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A Fox rabbit-hunting. 

{See page J 60.) 



(Ffontispiece.) 



ANIMALS in ACTION 



STUDIES and STORIES of 'BEASTS, 'BIRT>S 

and %EPTILES! their HABITS, their HOMES 

and their PECULIARITIES 



* 



COMPILED and ADAPTED from THE GERMAN 

by ELBRIDGE S, BROOKS 
author of THE STORY OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY 

ILLUSTRATED with MANY SKETCHES of 
ANIMALS Drawn from LIFE, as they Appeared 
in their NATIVE Haunts and NOT in Captivity 



BOSTON 
LOTHROP PUBLISHING COMPANY 



THE LIBRARY OF 
CONGRESS, 

Two Copies Received 

APR. 29 1901 

Copyright entry 

CLASS ^XXc. N«. 

COPY 3. 



COPYRIGHT, 




I9OI, 


By 




L O 


T H R P 


PUBLISHING 


C O 


M P A N Y. 


ALL 


RIGHTS RESERVED. 



e « c e e « 



CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

The Golden Eagle in his Nest . . i 

Fight between Two Golden Eagles 6 

A Gorilla fighting with a Leopard . . . . . , .10 

Corralling the Zebra . 14 

The Otter and the Wild Goose .18 

The Partridge and the Mouse Weasel ....... 22 

Fur Seals fighting for a Mate ........ 26 

A Mail Carrier of the Desert ... 30 

Black-backed Jackal and Gnus . 33 

Marsh Hen and Pike 37 

Blackcocks fighting .......... 41 

The Aurochs, or European Bison . 45 

Crocodiles in Battle . . . . . . . . . -49 

The Apteryx and the Dingo 53 

The Anaconda fishing 57 

Sea-elephants 61 

Life beneath the Sea 65 

The Condor and the Llama .69 

The Giant Salamander ......... 73 

Hunting with the Chetah ......... 77 

The CHmbing Kangaroo . . . . . . . . .81 

The Striped Adder and the Frog . . . . . . . .82 

The Walrus . 86 

The Water Moccasin .......... 90 

The Great Turtle . ■■ . . . . . . . . . -93 

An Esquimau in Battle with a Polar Bear 97 

iii 



iv CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

The Swan and the Fox .......... loi 

Hunting the Tiger with Elephants 102 

Saved ............. 109 

The Shrike 113 

The Black Gelada 117 

Eagle Hawk and Chameck . . . . . . . . .121 

The Yak 125 

The Sea Eagle . . . 131 

The Dolphin and his Guests . . . . . . . . .132 

The Oryx and the Painted Hyena, or Hunting Dog . . . -135 

The African Ostrich 141 

Grizzly Bear attacked by a Buffalo 142 

A Diver defending himself against Sharks ...... 145 

The Wood Owl 151 

Albatrosses and Sea Gulls 152 

The Desert Lynx . . . . . . . . . . -155 

Ocelot and Night Monkey -159 

" Who stops to choose waits to lose " . . . . . . .160 

Hamster and Polecat 163 

The Spectral Tarsier hunting Drosera 167 

The Aoudad . . . .171 

The Sparrow Owl catches a Squirrel . . . . . . .172 

The Hyena and the Zebra . . . . . . . . -177 

The Opossum and the Earth Squirrel, or Chipmunk .... 181 

Fighting Sea-lions . . . . . . . . . .185 

Mother Bear bathing her Cubs 186 

Tiger with Booty ............ 191 

Giraffes at a Lagoon . . . . . . . . . .192 

The Fossa 198 

Ant-bears in a Quarrel . . . . . . . . . .201 

A Prairie Scene in Winter . 202 

Wart Hogs ^ 208 



CONTENTS. V 

PAGE 

The Saiga, or Antelope of the Steppes . . . . . . .212 

Ocelot capturing a Flamingo . . . ..v. . . .216 

The Orang-outang . . . . . . . . . .219 

Suricate and Great Shrew Mouse ........ 220 

Bearded Vulture and Common Griffin in Combat 226 

The Peacock Argus . . . . . . • • • • 230 

The Tapir .234 

The Octopus and the Lobster ........ 238 

The California Bighorn ......... 242 

A Vanishing Animal .......... 246 

Bezoar and Lynx 250 

The Frigate Bird 254 

Mongoos and Cobra de Capello 258 

The Cougar, or Puma . . . . . ... . . 262 

The Crocodile and the Pelican . . . . . . ... 265 

Egyptian Asp capturing a Jerboa, or Jumping Mouse .... 269 

Marabou in Battle with Hyenas ........ 275 

Sperm Whale and Polar Fox ........ 276 

Elk in Battle with Wolves . . . 280 

Dingo and Duckbill . 283 

The Ibex 287 

The Narwhal ........... 291 

Buifalo attacked by Lions . . 295 

John Dory and the Octopus 296 

A Family of Chimpanzees ......... 302 

Fighting Kangaroos . . . . . . . . . . 305 

A Whale attacked by Grampi ........ 306 

A Battle between Deer . . . . . . . . . -311 

Wapiti Deer on a Rocky Mountain Range 312 

A Duel in an Indian Jungle . . . . . . . . .318 

Wandering Reindeer . . . . . . . . . .321 

Dogs pursuing a Wild Boar 327 



vi CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

Tyras pouncing upon a Pampas Deer . . . . . . . 328 

An Elk at Bay . . . . . . . . . . -331 

Kite, or Glede, and Saker 332 

Monitor and Egyptian Goose 337 

Tree Panther and Tree Snake 338 

The Leopard meets his Match 3/^4 

A Battle between Giants 347 

A Beaver Colony . . . . . . . . . . -351 

Quarrelsome Storks 356 

The Cat and the Donkey, or a Safe Port 359 

Types of Dogs . . . . . . . .... . 360 



ANIMALS IN ACTION, 



The Golden Eagle in his Nest. 

THE golden eagle lives in the deepest forests and among 
the loftiest mountains of Europe, Asia, and Africa. He 
is the noblest of the family of birds of prey, and is impos- 
ing in size and bearing. Even when he is in repose his proud, erect 
position and the sparkle of his great and shining eyes distinguish 
him as the lord of the bird kingdom. But the full majesty of 
his appearance becomes apparent when he is sweeping in mighty 
circles high in the blue sky. Here he disports himself for many 
hours at a time, apparently motionless in the air except for an 
occasional tremor of his wings as he changes the direction of 
his flight. The golden eagle is an exceedingly graceful and 
spirited bird, always alert and keen-sighted, and with a most 
wonderful power of scenting his prey. The golden eagle's 
vision has the invaluable faculty of being able to adjust itself 
instantly to every change of distance. The muscles of his eyes 
are so delicately contrived that he can move the visual lens 
forward or backward to discern objects close to him or at an 
immense distance away, without delay or effort. This won- 
derful power of sight enables this lordly hunter to espy his 
prey, no matter how small it may be, from the loftiest mountain- 
top or in the midst of the Hmitless spaces of blue. 



2 ANIMALS IN ACTION. 

He fears no resistance. The calf of the roebuck as well as 
the hare, the rabbit, and the tiny' field-mouse alike fall victims 
to his powerful talons. Bustard, swan, and wild goose as well 
as prairie hen and quail do not escape his rapacity, and he has 
been even known to seize kids and lambs in the barn-yard 
almost under the very eyes of the farmer. The spiteful marten 
and the disagreeable skunk do not fare better than the sly fox 
when he has marked them for his prey, and even dogs and 
cats are often borne aloft, struggling for life in his mighty 
grip. The speediest flight does not avail the quadruped, nor 
the swiftest wing the bird, when the golden eagle has caught 
sight of them. With perseverance and cunning he pursues the 
partridge and the snipe. The king of birds, like some other 
kings, is a firm believer in the doctrine that might makes 
right, and he often darts through the air to pounce upon the 
hawk and tear his prey away from him. 

The mating time of the golden eagle begins in March, when 
he builds his nest upon a frowning cliffside or in the topmost 
branches of the highest forest tree. He builds his home 
of boughs, sometimes as thick as a man's arm, and lines it on 
the inside with meadow plants, grass, and hair. The eggs of 
the golden eagle are very much like those of the buzzard. 
They are dotted or flecked with brown spots upon a greenish 
white ground. 

The hatching of the young, which make their appearance 
after five weeks of setting, falls to the female alone. The 
brood is as ugly and awkward as the parent birds are dignified 
and beautiful. It happens very frequently that most of the 
eggs in the nest are sterile, and a single offspring is the only 
result of the season's nest building. Upon this remnant the 
whole love of the parent eagles unites. Almost every hour the 
old birds bring to the nest hares or quail which they have 




The Golden Eagle in his Nest. 



THE GOLDEN EAGLE IN HIS NEST. 5 

captured in their hunting expeditions. With parental tender- 
ness the father and the mother dismember their prey and 
spread out the choicest bits before the ever clamoring offspring. 
His nursery, therefore (as shown in the picture), presents a 
suggestive scene, with its refuse heap of hares' legs, skulls of 
birds, hair, feathers, and wool in gruesome confusion. But 
sometimes a wonderful thing happens in this place of skulls. 
Small birds, particularly finches and sparrows, make their 
homes in the immediate neighborhood of the nest or even 
among the dry branches of which it is built, and live there in 
peace and comfort. These birds are the only company that 
the eagle tolerates. Two couples never build their nests within 
the boundaries of their respective hunting grounds. The safety 
of the sparrows depends, not so much upon the generosity of 
the eagle, as upon the nimbleness and small size of the imper- 
tinent little fellows. The sparrows understand that in the 
presence of the eagle they find protection from the attacks of 
hawks and falcons, and so they build their nests in the eaves 
of the eagles' home. In a single eyrie there were once found 
no fewer than fifty-two sparrows' nests, a circumstance which 
illustrates, incidentally, the roominess of the bird-king's castle. 



ANIMALS IN ACTION. 



Fight between Two Golden Eagles. 

{Sto7ie Falcons.) 

THE traveller in Switzerland often sees the lordly golden 
eagle soaring in majestic flight over the Alpine heights and 
abysses. With his long pinions outstretched he glides 
through the air swiftly, and his wings hardly betray any motion. 
The keen eye of the proud bird scans the earth minutely and espies 
the tiniest prey from his mighty elevation, and begins to settle 
toward the earth in a slow, spiral flight. Then he suddenly draws 
his wings to his sides and shoots downward with the swiftness of a 
bullet, sinks his claws into the body of his victim, and kills it with- 
out even using his beak. After the death the eagle stands up to 
his full height, and, in the consciousness of victory achieved, 
utters a scream of triumph. After this the powerful beak begins 
its work of destruction. The golden eagle plays sad havoc 
among the hares, lambs, and kids, and does not spare the smaller 
beasts of prey, such as cats and foxes. Even little children are 
not altogether safe from his attacks, and many stories are told 
of the boldness with which these lords of the air have pounced 
upon babes and carried them off in the very sight of their terri- 
fied parents. Storks, cranes, and geese also frequently furnish 
food for the haughty marauder. The golden eagle broods in 
the early summer upon some inaccessible mountain cliff, or else 
among the highest branches of a towering tree. The male eagle 
never permits the presence of a rival in the neighborhood of his 




Fight between Two Golden Eagles. 



FIGHT BETWEEN TWO GOLDEN EAGLES. 9 

nest. When an intruder appears, the master of the nest rushes 
upon him with an angry cry. The intruder is invariably im- 
pressed by the warmth of the welcome that he finds. He feels 
unsafe in the strange hunting district and considers whether to 
accept the fight with its rightful owner. Then his boldness 
returns, and the giant birds soar up into the sky, where they 
wheel about each other in search of an opportunity for an 
attack. The circle of their flight grows smaller and smaller, 
and then one of the birds suddenly darts toward his opponent. 
Both use their claws with such effectiveness that the crimson 
drops begin to trickle. There is a rustling of feathers, and 
heavy beaks strike into angry bodies. The battle becomes 
more and more desperate, until the fighters tumble over each 
other toward the ground, and finally the intruder slinks away 
bleeding and torn. The victor follows him for a time and then 
turns to his mate, and is received with joyful cries of praise and 
approbation. The golden eagle lays from two to four greenish 
eggs spotted with brown. So voracious is the appetite of the 
fledglings that the nest is invariably littered with the remains of 
various animals. In one nest fragments of forty hares and 
three hundred ducklings were found. 



lo ANIMALS IN ACTION. 



A Gorilla fighting with a Leopard. 

IT is barely a half-century that we have known anything 
about the life of that powerful, manlike ape, the gorilla. He 
was, however, known to the Carthaginians more than two 
thousand years ago, when with a fleet of sixty great ships they 
made a voyage to the west coast of Africa. Hanno, the leader of 
the expedition, has described his travels in his " Periplus Han- 
Bonis," and in his work he mentions distinctly the gorilla ; but 
nothing more was heard of this manhke ape after that time until 
further information about the gorilla came to light about fifty 
years ago. In 1847 ^ gorilla's skull was brought to Europe, and 
served to establish the existence of the animal. Then, after 
further details about the interesting ape had been furnished by 
Wilson, Savage, and Ford, it remained for the Frenchman, Du 
Chaillu, and the Englishman, Read, to give the first complete 
description of the gorilla, and they confirmed fully Hanno's ac- 
counts about this '' king of the African jungles." The full-grown 
goriWs. (Ajit/iropopit/iecus g-ori//a is his Latin name) is an extraor- 
dinarily strong animal, 1.65 metres in height and from ninety to 
ninety-five centimetres across the shoulders. It has arms or fore 
legs about 1.08 metres in length, of tremendous muscular develop- 
ment, and its bite is as fierce as that of the bear. The gorilla lives 
only in the swampy jungles of the west coast of Africa, in the 
vicinity of the equator, about the rivers Gaboon, Muni, and Fer- 
nandovaz. Here he is to be found in little troops containing one 




Gorilla defending his Family from a Leopard, 



A GORILLA FIGHTING WITH A LEOPARD. 13 

or two males and several females with their young. He builds 
his camp in the trees and lives on palm-shoots, bananas, leaves, 
and sprouts, besides various kinds of nuts and fruits. The 
gorilla is not in the least afraid of a human being, and is a dan- 
gerous adversary on account of his enormous strength, his quick- 
ness, and savagery, especially when he has been wounded without 
having received a death-blow. At such times his wild anger 
arouses him to fearful execution. 

The gorilla throws himself boldly upon the most formidable 
beasts of prey in his native jungles, the panther and the leopard, 
and often overcomes them through the colossal strength of his 
fists, aided by his frightful teeth. Thus even the leopard, as in 
the battle illustrated in our picture, must succumb to his foe. 
He has fought with an old male gorilla. The robber has been 
on the watch for the young gorillas in the arms of their mother, 
and the old male is defending his family with terrible fierceness. 



14 ANIMALS IN ACTION. 



Corralling the Zebra. 

AFRICAN colonizers have been trying for a long time to 
breed a useful draught animal that can withstand the dis- 
astrous effects of the climate. Horses, mules, and asses 
perish very quickly in that torrid country. On the other hand the 
native-born zebra is " immune " from disease and the death-deal- 
ing bite of insects. After many experiments, the early belief that 
the zebra is incapable of domestication has been dispelled. Lieu- 
tenant Bronsart von Schellendorff, a German officer stationed in 
West Africa, has for nearly two years been conducting with some 
successithe training of the zebra and the ostrich for carrying pur- 
poses. The zebra takes immediate fright at the slow and creep- 
ing approach of the hunter. But if the latter advances upon his 
prey openly and without concealment, he can approach to within 
fifty yards of the herd without stampeding it. This peculiarity 
of the zebra's temperament suggested to Lieutenant von Schel- 
lendorff the plan of driving herds of these animals into an 
enclosure. The Ndorrobbos, a native tribe which is most 
often assigned to such a round-up, are noted hunters, and follow 
the sport with great zest. Herr Bronsart thus describes a hunt 
of this kind : — 

" About three hundred Ndorrobbos formed a great half-circle 
about the open hunting-ground which lay between a small hill 
and a creek before us. At last little bands containing from ten 
to twenty zebras with a few foals, and a band of gnus of about 




o 
O 



CORRALLING THE ZEBRA. 17 

fifty head, appeared about half a mile away, between the hill 
and the driving line. The plain before us was dotted with 
gazelles. 

"At eight o'clock we discovered a great herd of gnus and 
zebras, nearly a hundred and fifty head in all, together with 
eleven ostriches. At about eleven o'clock there rolled toward 
us from the northwest a giant cloud of dust from which count- 
less zebras and gnus gradually emerged, with the eleven flutter- 
ing ostriches leading the van. At our feet scampered frightened, 
shadowy little groups of gazelles. Higher up, and about three- 
quarters of a mile behind these little folk, stood the giant herd 
of zebras, which the little troops of the morning had joined. 
About a hundred zebras stood packed tightly together, while as 
many more were scattered about, running back and forth in 
great panic. A herd of gnus at this moment tried to break 
through the hne, much to our disgust, for the round-up had 
been designed solely for zebras. 

" Then it was the Ndorrobbos appeared all along the line. 
Tunning, yelling, and brandishing their clubs, spears, and bows. 
The line had been closed. In two great columns the wild herds 
turned upon it with a rush. According to previous arrangement 
the whole driving line, re-formed upon the raising of a white flag, 
■closed up the gap. Then the flag was lowered, and we marched 
slowly forward, in perfect silence, so as not to stampede the 
remaining zebras. 

" The ostriches, flapping their wings constantly, had already 
•entered the cul-de-sac^ while the great herd of zebras and gnus 
were about to enter the corral. If only the crowd of beaters 
could have done their duty and remained quiet ! It happened, 
however, that an Askari, who stood nearest the zebras, thought 
it about time that something should happen, and let fly a shot. 

" In a twinkling, gnus and zebras were in a stampede. They 



i8 ANIMALS IN ACTION. 

thundered back the way they had come, the gnus with horns 
lowered, the zebras with ears set back, charging away straight 
upon the driving line. They were off ! Later on four young 
gnus and three zebra foals were routed out of the tall grass by 
the Ndorrobbos, and this catch partly reconciled me to my ill 
luck." 



The Otter and the Wild Goose. 

JUST as in olden times the knights in brazen armor rode 
down from their strongholds, waylaid the traveller, and after 
a short resistance dragged him off pitilessly to strip him of 
his possessions and extort from him a heavy ransom, so, to- 
day, the robber knights of the animal kingdom make their forays. 
But these do not satisfy themselves with despoiling their victim of 
his property ; they rob him also of his life. The woods and fields, 
the air and the water about us, are teeming with such high-handed 
villains, armed with powerful offensive weapons, who seize their 
prey with the greatest boldness and cunning. Never are the 
harmless creatures safe from these rovers. No wonder that 
they place their dwellings in the greatest possible seclusion and 
venture out of them with trembling caution. Yet often the 
most constant watchfulness is in vain. Even when everything 
seems safe the enemy is lurking in his hiding-place, devising 
how he may seize his unsuspecting victim. Our picture por- 
trays just such a pitiful scene. The wary wild goose has taken 
a careful look around. The waters lie before her beautiful and 
still. Nothing suspicious can be seen, and so Mother Goose 
thinks that she may venture forth unobserved. But hardly has 
she touched the surface of the water, when, with the swiftness 
of lightning, a glistening head makes its appearance, sharp 




4-\ 



Wild Goose captured by a Fish Otter. 



THE OTTER AND THE WILD GOOSE. 21 

claws hold fast the unhappy victim, and pointed teeth plunge 
into the quivering flesh. One choking death-cry, and the dead 
body hangs limp in the otter's mouth, while the highwayman 
swims away with his booty in triumph. 

The otter is one of the worst malefactors in the animal 
world. His form is everywhere known, sharply distinct from 
that of any other beast of prey. Whoever has not seen him in 
freedom has possibly had occasion to observe him in a zoologi- 
cal garden or in a menagerie. In the shape of his skull, in his 
uncommonly fierce bite, in the elongated, low-lying body, and 
in the short legs which tread with the whole sole flat upon the 
ground, he resembles his cousin, the marten ; but his head is 
somewhat more rounded than that of the marten. Moreover, 
as the otter lives largely in the water, his body, and also his 
long, tapering tail, are somewhat flattened, and his little eyes 
and ears are almost hidden in the fur. His five-toed feet are 
webbed, while his fur is short, thick, and water-tight, with an 
outer coating of coarse, stiff hairs which suggest elongated fish- 
scales. The color on the upper part of the otter's body is a 
glistening dark brown, especially glossy underneath and on the 
throat. The otter is about four feet long and weighs from 
thirty-five to forty pounds. He spends his days in idleness at 
home in some great self-excavated hole in a river-bank, which 
opens into the thicket by one or more tunnels under the surface 
of the water, and another to the top of the ground. He seldom 
ventures forth by day, but usually leaves his dwelling only at 
night and prefers to do his hunting by bright moonlight. His 
chief articles of diet are fish and crabs. It is estimated that a 
pair of otters consume fifty or sixty pounds of fish or crabs 
daily. The otter also catches mice, water-rats, and even birds, 
which he devours with their eggs. In addition he creates enor- 
mous havoc among the water-fowl. 



22 ANIMALS IN ACTION. 

The female otter gives birth at various times in the year to 
three or four bUnd young, which open their eyes about a week 
after birth, and, about two months later, leave their den, under 
the guidance of their mother, for their first lesson in fishing. 
They are charming little fellows, and are easily tamed. The 
flesh of the otter was formerly esteemed, in the monasteries of 
the Old World, as a savory article of food during Lent. At 
present it is not much eaten anywhere. On the other hand his 
pelt furnishes a very valuable fur. On account of his destruc- 
tive habits, nearly all countries have offered rewards for the 
extermination of the otter. The animal is hunted in otter traps 
or with the help of dogs specially trained for the purpose of 
pursuing him in the water or forcing him out of his inacces- 
sible hole. 



The Partridge and the Mouse Weasel. 

THE life of one of our most beautiful and most harmless 
birds, the gray partridge, which .chiefly frequents the 
fields and meadows of low-lying countries, and whose 
flight so pleasantly enlivens the rural stillness of the wide pas- 
tures, is one of the most imperilled and harassed in the whole 
animal kingdom. Many enemies persecute this defenceless, 
bright-eyed bird. Prompted by his appetite for its delicious 
flesh, man pursues the partridge with gun and dog or with nets 
and traps ; and its peace is disturbed still more by meat-eating 
birds and quadrupeds. The fox and the marten, the badger, the 
polecat, and the weasel hunt the partridge and its young. The 
hawk, the sparrow-hawk, and the kite torment it, while the stork 
and the crow, when flying home over field and meadow, very 
often seize and devour its young. But the most tireless and the 




Partridge Hen attacked by Weasel. 



THE PARTRIDGE AND THE MOUSE WEASEL. 25 

most dangerous, although the tiniest and the most insignificant, 
of all the enemies of the partridge is the weasel, known to the 
scientist as the Mustela vulgaris. This little animal, hardly six 
inches in length, including a tail one and a half inches long, is 
a cruel robber with an insatiable thirst for blood, and makes up 
in dexterity and craft what he lacks in size and strength. His 
elongated body and his narrow head permit him to squeeze 
through the most impossible holes and crevices, while his 
short, thin legs, ending in muscular toes tipped with sharp 
nails, enable him to hold fast his struggling prey. He creeps 
and springs noiselessly, climbs with incredible ease, and seizes 
his prey with cunning and swiftness, whether it be upon the 
ground or upon a bush or a tree. His strong sense of smell is 
an important help to him in his work of destruction. 

In grace and suppleness of movement, as well as in the 
strength of the bite of his sharp, vise-like teeth, and in courage, 
the weasel has hardly an equal among the smaller beasts of 
prey, and he is one of the busiest and most successful of nest- 
despoilers. When the sportsman inspects his game preserves 
in the late spring, he often comes upon scattered feathers of a 
partridge, mingled with clean-picked bones and broken egg- 
shells. He knows at once that the weasel has stolen upon a 
brooding partridge. Then, despite her desperate resistance, he 
has torn her limb from limb, and, not satisfied with his work, 
has broken and devoured even the eggs in the nest. The 
scene of such a tragedy is shown, in a sketch taken from life. 



26 ANIMALS IN ACTION. 



Fur Seals fighting for a Mate. 

THE beautiful, soft, and glossy pelt which is called seal- 
skin does not come from the common seal or sea-dog 
which is rather frequently met with along the northern 
sea-line of North America. The luxurious fur comes from an- 
other member of the family, the sea-bear or fur-seal that lives in 
the Polar seas. This is the animal shown in our picture. The 
full-sized adult reaches a length of six and a half or even ten feet. 
He is more active and much swifter than the other varieties of 
the seal, and is bolder in his battles for self-preservation. But 
the heavy, thick fur of the sea-bear, which enables the animal to 
live in the extreme Polar seas, is the most striking difference 
between him and his poorer relations. The sea-bear has, par- 
ticularly upon the back and sides, a covering of long, gray, bris- 
tling hair, and under this is a thick layer of very soft and fine fur 
which covers the whole body. The sea-bears abandon their dis- 
tant northern homes at the beginning of every summer, and in 
great herds come through Bering's Strait into the Pacific Ocean 
to spend the mating season on more southerly shores. Among 
their more favorite haunts are the Pribilof Islands, St. Paul and 
St. George, which lie west of the Alaskan coast about midway 
between the Aleutian Islands and the mouth of the Yukon 
River. They are two precipitous little islands, and upon them 
the sea-bears appear in countless numbers every year. Here 
many thousands of full-grown adults were slaughtered annually 




Fur Seals fighting. 



FUR SEALS FIGHTING FOR A MATE. 29 

for their skins, until the United States and Great Britain 
stopped this indiscriminate execution in order to save the 
species from extinction. 

The Pribilof Islands were formerly Russian territory, and, 
with the rest of Russian North America, or Alaska, were sold 
to the United States ; so that the sealskin business is now 
almost entirely in the hands of Americans. 

The migration of the seals to the Pribilof Islands is a 
curious process. By the middle of June an advance guard of 
males arrives at St. Paul and occupies all the level places upon 
the immediate coast and the stretches adjoining it. Later the 
females come, at first in scattered numbers, and then in ever 
increasing droves, until by the middle of July all the available 
places have been occupied. As soon as a female arrives, the 
adult males or bulls rush to meet her. The foremost bull cuts 
off Mrs. Sea-bear's way back to the water, and proceeds to 
approach her with his blandishments. He then seizes her 
by the back, draws her away from and over the others, and 
takes her to his own resting-place ; here he finally collects all 
his twelve or fifteen wives and guards them jealously. It fre- 
quently happens that the lucky gallant is set upon by other 
males, which try to wrest his prize away. Such a struggle is 
presented in our picture. During the melee the poor female 
sometimes suffers very severely. As the pelts only become 
marketable in the sixth year of their Hfe, only the older bulls 
are slaughtered, the female young seals being protected by 
rigidly enforced laws. 

In September and October the herds leave the Pribilof 
Islands to return to the Polar seas, but regularly return each 
summer to their mating places on the islands. 



30 ANIMALS IN ACTION. 



A Mail Carrier of the Desert. 

THE noble picture by Horace Vernet, one of his many- 
scenes from torrid Africa, which has been so long the 
dream of French colonial ambition, gives us a vivid im- 
pression of man and beast in the desert, following their lonely 
way across the apparently endless spaces to deliver the mail 
matter to a remote station. The wonderful animal that has 
been so appropriately nicknamed "the ship of the desert," and 
which is certainly as good as a steam-engine for travelling 
where no rail can be laid, is indispensable on the desert high- 
way of traffic. His performances are simply marvellous. The 
inaharri, the most highly prized breed of the camel, is of great 
size and remarkable speed. His daily march averages 120-160 
German miles for days at a stretch, but one of these animals has 
been known to travel the distance from Tripoli to Rhadames, 
over four hundred miles, in twenty-four hours. Sometimes, 
however, they break down and die on the way, and their bones 
are scattered in great numbers over the surface of the sea of 
sand. The experienced rider knows no fear, if well mounted. 
He is provided with a flask of water, some food, and a pipe and 
tobacco for refreshment, and he also carries a carbine and a 
trusty sword for defence against a possible foe. The swaying, 
rocking trot of his animal takes Hassan or Abdullah quickly 
wherever his business may call him. The desert road is marked 




The Ship of the Desert. 



BLACK-BACKED JACKAL AND GNUS. S3 

here and there by small stones which one sees protruding from 
the sand. They have been placed there by well-meaning prede- 
cessors to refresh the desert riders' memory of the true direc- 
tion of the road. 



Black-backed Jackal and Gnus. 

ON the east coast of Africa, in the territory stretching 
from Nubia to the Cape, roams a relative of the fox, the 
black-backed jackal. It resembles the fox very closely ; 
hut its legs are longer and the pupils of its eyes are oval. This 
particular species of jackal derives its name from the sharply de- 
fined dark streak, broken with white spots, which runs down its 
back. Like Master Reynard, it has all the qualities of a success- 
ful thief, for it is a skilled jumper ; it can sneak, creep, and swim 
silently and swiftly, and is cautious and resourceful to a degree. 
During the night it prowls about the forests and plains, utter- 
ing its peculiar cry ; but while it prefers to hunt in the night, 
the jackal is frequently seen in the daytime. With a quick 
spring he leaps upon the nimble mouse, or tears the fledglings 
from the nest, or gives chase to the quick-footed earth-squirrel. 
It also pursues the hare and stalks small antelopes. Nothing 
living is safe from it, and even the larger insects, such as the 
l)eetle, locust, and their like, furnish dainties for its table ; but it 
has a special appetite for carrion. The natives detest the black- 
backed jackal, for it frequently appears in their yards or walks 
into their very larders in the dead of night, stealing everything 
within reach and working great havoc among the barnyard fowls. 
In common with some other thieves, it seldom shows much 
courage. But when it is driven into a corner it is very likely to 
turn at bay and defend its booty with great tenacity. The 



34 ANIMALS IN ACTION. 

scene of such a struggle is shown in our picture. A jackal has 
just robbed a henroost and is about to make off with its prey, 
accompanied by its mate, when it suddenly perceives the 
approach of a herd of gnus, that peculiar cross between the 
antelope, the horse, and the ox, which is one of the marvels of 
the African continent. The beasts come on, snorting loudly 
and beating a drum-beat upon the plain. The jackal cannot 
reconcile itself to the idea of running away without its prey. 
Therefore, in spite of the fierce appearance of the oncoming 
herd, it takes its stand to await their onrush, covering its booty 
with its fore legs. With its tail raised in the air, it shows every 
one of its sharp teeth, growling fiercely in the meantime, while 
its mates are very evidently in doubt whether to support it, or to 
run away. 

Perhaps the jackal will succeed in turning the gnus from their 
path, but the probability is that a thrust from a powerful pair of 
horns will kill it, or perhaps it will be badly injured by the 
stamping and kicking of the vanguard, and the herd will con- 
tinue on its way ; for the gnus are high-tempered animals, quick 
and fierce in their attack, and the jackal can do nothing to check 
their assault. The gnu is eagerly hunted, for its fine flesh is con- 
sidered a desirable delicacy for the table. In Cape Colony the 
gnus are fast disappearing, for the Boers have pursued the 
" Wildebeest" with great avidity since the earliest settlement of 
that country. The gnu is a powerful animal, reaching a total 
length of six feet, with a height of four feet at the shoulders. 
It is to be found throughout South Africa to the equator. The 
scientist Harris says, in describing the gnu: "With ungainly 
movements, swaying in all directions, its shaggy, bearded head 
thrown forward between its slender, muscular fore legs, its long, 
white tail streaming back in the wind, this fleet animal makes at 
once a wild and a ridiculous appearance." 




Black-backed Jackals disturbed by Gnus, 



MARSH HEN AND PIKE. 37 



Marsh Hen and Pike. 

DURING the first warm days of spring the marsh hen 
{FuHca atra) forsakes its southern winter resort, and 
seeks once more its famiUar pond in northern latitudes. 
Like the stork and the swallow, it returns year after year to 
the same old pond. With its mate it wanders among the rushes 
and early reeds, searching for food and for a place in which to 
cradle their young. Marsh hens are beautiful and graceful 
creatures, conspicuous in their dark brown and slate-gray 
plumage, flecked with white on the sides, and a red spot in 
bold relief upon the forehead. About the sparkling eyes of 
the marsh hen are yellow circles, then gray ones, and last of all 
red. The beak is yellow at the end, shading into a red. The 
long toes are joined with webs. The nest of the marsh hen 
is to be found in a trampled clump of reeds, upon a decayed 
trunk of a tree, or upon an island of leaves spread thickly 
over the surface of the water — not a very artistic structure, 
but compactly built and well concealed. In it are six or 
sometimes as many as twelve eggs, which are large in com- 
parison with the size of the bird, and are thickly flecked with 
brown dots. After a hatching of three weeks, the funny little 
fellows struggle out of their shells. On the day following they 
leave the nest and accompany their mother into the water, and 
a pretty sight they present as they tumble and flounder about 
the old birds. While the little ones are hunting for insects, their 
parents are keeping a close watch upon all sides for the slight- 



38 ANIMALS IN ACTION. 

est indication of danger. Suddenly, high up against the blue 
sky, there appears a dark spot. A sharp, frightened cry is heard 
upon the surface of the pond, and the entire family disappears 
with the speed of lightning. Where have they gone to ? One 
would find it impossible to say, if here a little brown head did 
not peep from the shadow of the green Hly-pads, or there the 
yellow point of a beak show above the surface of the water. 
The little birds are masters in the art of concealment, and dive 
and swim under water like fishes. 

It would almost seem that no enemy could reach the marsh 
hen. The laws of man protect it, dogs and cats cannot follow 
it into the water, while hawks and kites cannot find it. But its 
wicked and calculating enemy, the pike, often succeeds in his 
fell purposes. The very appearance of this fish — the pike or 
Esox liiciiis — marks it as a bold marauder. Its body is thick, 
its head pressed fiat, and its jaws can open wide, disclosing 
a bristling array of long, pointed teeth. The pirate steers 
through the water with a powerful stroke, and greedily devours 
a tadpole or a frog or whatever other creature he may seize. 
He pursues the ducklings and often destroys a whole brood at 
a time. The marsh hen, therefore, finds it impossible to remain 
in a pond where the pike has made its appearance, for even the 
full-grown birds are not safe from its successful attacks. 

If the parent birds have good luck, the young ones are able 
to take care of themselves in a few weeks, and the old birds 
begin preparations for a new brood. When this, too, is hatched 
out, the picture of domestic life becomes doubly interesting, for 
the older brothers and sisters affectionately aid their parents in 
the care of the infants. This process is repeated throughout 
the summer, and at the beginning of autumn the whole pond 
has been stocked with these birds. Then, some fine night, 
they disappear as suddenly as they came, only to return to the 



/ 







'"''a -iJiSr'?'' '■■^''■r- 



Pike attacking a* iVIarsh Hen. 



BLACKCOCKS FIGHTING. 41 

old home in the following spring. Inasmuch as only a single 
pair finds room enough for proper development in any one 
pond, the old birds defend their home against each aggressor, 
and, in spite of their tender care for the young at their helpless 
age, oppose their own offspring so vigorously when they show 
a desire to settle in the pond in which they began life that a 
bitter struggle often results. 



Blackcocks Fighting. 

AKIN to the heath cock is the blackcock ; this game bird, 
indeed, is the king of heath and moor of middle Europe 
and Asia, and is one of the most interesting denizens 
of the forests. 

The heath, with a scattering growth of juniper bushes and 
birch trees, is his favorite resort, and here he Hves through the 
greater part of the year, apart from the hens, taciturn and 
sulky. His food consists of buds, seeds, and berries, such as 
cranberry, bilberry, and juniper berry, besides wheat, oats, and 
buckwheat. He also greedily devours snails and worms, and 
has a pronounced appetite for the pupae of ants. In the 
spring he seeks the company of the hen, and does his wooing 
in the deep wood, upon the moor, or in the meadow. Usually 
he makes his appearance in the twilight, perched upon a tree, 
and utters a cry consisting of a whistling sound, followed by a 
drumming like that of the turkey cock, and ending with a 
pecuHar hiss. With the first signs of daybreak the cock leaves 
the tree and comes to the trysting-spot. Then begins a fan- 
tastic dance which one must have seen in order to appreciate. 
It is thus described by Naumann : — 



42 ANIMALS IN ACTION. . 

" The cock makes the most extraordinary poses in quick 
succession. He begins by elevating his tail like a fan, and then 
stroking his head and neck feathers, holding his wings out 
from his body in such a way that the tips reach the ground. 
He then runs about in a zigzag course, springing and dancing, 
sometimes in a circle and sometimes backward, beating his 
wings, stretching his neck, now upward and then so far out 
before him that the bristling throat feathers sweep the ground. 
He repeats his remarkable calls so often and with such fury 
that he sometimes exhausts himself. If two cocks should meet 
at such a moment, there follows a battle royal like that between 
barnyard roosters under similar circumstances. With head 
sunk low, tail spread out fanlike, and wings drooping, they rush 
at each other and aim to inflict wounds with beak and spurs, as 
shown in the picture. After a short respite, due to utter weari- 
ness, they resume the contest with renewed bitterness and con- 
tinue their desperate fight until one of the contestants is 
beaten and retires from the field. Then the victor perches 
upon the nearest tree and announces his victory in loud and 
joyous calls." 

The wooing time of the blackcock lasts from four to six 
weeks, and at the conclusion of this period the cocks again 
retire into their privacy, leaving the hens to build rude nests of 
twigs, grass, and feathers, in hollows in the high grass, between 
ridges or under bushes. Here they lay from six to twelve 
yellow eggs, speckled with brown dots and points, and of about 
the size of a barnyard hen's egg. The young are hatched in 
about three weeks, and, like the domestic chicks, remain for a 
long time under the wings of the mother. The flesh of the black- 
hen is more toothsome and tender than that of the heath hen, 
and indeed the young blackcock is considered a great delicacy. 



I 




i'S; 




^^^r^i 



Blackcocks fighting. 



THE AUROCHS, OR EUROPEAN BISON. 45 



The Aurochs, or European Bison. 

ONLY a small herd of some hundred specimens of the 
largest animal of the European continent, the aurochs, or 
bison, is now left in Europe. These animals the Czar 
of Russia keeps in semi-confinement in the forest of Bialowitza, 
in Lithuania, and from among them have come the few specimens 
that are to be found living in parks, or that may be seen, stuffed, 
in natural history museums. Only in the wilds of the Caucasus 
does this mighty member of the family of the ruminants roam 
about in a natural state. He has been exterminated in the north, 
in much the same way as his American cousin, the bison or buf- 
falo. As a rule animals of bulky size vanish before the advance 
of civilization. This is an inexorable law of nature which even the 
scientists have not explained to their own complete satisfaction. 
The full-grown male aurochs attains to a height of about five 
feet at the withers, is about eight feet long, and weighs nearly fif- 
teen hundred pounds. He is a very stately animal, with a broad, 
well-formed head covered with a rich mane, like a growth of 
hair, and armed with round, sharp horns projecting at the sides. 
Almost the entire fore quarter of the animal is covered with a 
heavy coat of long and shaggy hairs, varying in color from a pale 
brown to a very dark shade of the same color. The heavy body 
from the neck to the middle of the back is very thick-set and 
slopes down to the haunches. The aurochs is thus the picture 
of power and ferocity, quite the most imposing animal of the 
European fauna, and lord of the swampy forests, where he rules 



46 ANIMALS IN ACTION. 

the herd, made up of a few young bulls, four or five cows, and 
some calves. The cow has one calf at a time, and protects it 
with great valor. When the young bulls have grown up suffi- 
ciently, the leader of the original herd drives them away to 
establish a new family connection. If he does not succeed in 
accomplishing this, he wanders about alone as an old bachelor, a 
great terror to the Caucasian hunter. 

The aurochs of the Caucasus is, to all appearances, almost 
always on the move. This migratory habit may be due to the 
requirements of a food supply, or it may be the result of an 
instinctive dread of danger; for the wolves, when driven into 
the forest by the storms of winter, pursue the scattered herds 
tirelessly. They skim lightly over the surface of the deep snow, 
and soon seize the doomed aurochs, which sinks deeper and 
deeper at every bound. According to accounts, three wolves 
can cope successfully with an aurochs. One of them, by jump- 
ing here and there, holds the attention of the animal in front, 
while the others pounce upon him from behind. There are 
now about eight hundred or nine hundred auroxen in the 
forests of Bialowitza. When Greece was in its prime, the 
animal was to be found in large numbers in what is now Bul- 
garia, and throughout Central Europe. Some authorities have 
represented the aurochs as the original of the domestic cattle 
of Europe. The most recent investigations, however, prove 
the complete inaccuracy of this theory. 




00 



CQ 



CROCODILES IN BATTLE. 49 

Crocodiles in Battle. 

THE home of the crocodile itself has been incorrectly de- 
scribed ; for while the animal in early times was to be 
found in all parts of Egypt, it has now almost disappeared 
from that country and has migrated to the sluggish streams of 
East Soudan and the waters of Central Africa. The crocodile 
spends his days upon the flat sandbanks asleep or sunning him- 
self, and seldom wanders more than a hundred steps away from 
the water. When disturbed he hurries back to it with great 
swiftness, so that he cannot be overtaken even with the speediest 
camel. He avoids obstacles by quick turnings, and the prevail- 
ing notion that he can change his direction only very slowly is 
manifestly erroneous. Moreover, he never pursues human beings 
shoreward, but invariably flees from them toward the water at the 
first alarm. After sundown the crocodiles leave their resting- 
places and betake themselves noiselessly to the water to hunt 
for fish until daybreak. With the help of their powerful tails, 
which they use as rudders, they move through the streams 
lightly and with great speed ; and the creatures which are ap- 
parently so stupid and helpless seize the scurrying fish with 
great dexterity and quickness. Whoever has observed them in 
this pursuit has found in them nothing of the awkward slug- 
gishness which tradition has ascribed to the crocodile. Though 
fishes form the main supply of their meals, these huge, lizard- 
Hke creatures also pursue larger prey. They mark the spots 
where animals come to drink or natives approach the stream 
to draw water. To these places the crocodiles repair and wait 
motionless beneath the surface of the water. As soon as the 
prey makes its appearance they swim noiselessly and swiftly 
beneath the water, fling themselves upon it with lightninglike 



50 ANIMALS IN ACTION. 

speed, draw it into the depth, and devour it or tear a Hmb from 
it at their leisure. In this way they capture goats, sheep, dogs, 
asses, horses, and camels, and occasionally human beings. Even 
the birds are not exempt from their cruel trickery. 

Among themselves the crocodiles are generally peaceful, 
but when they are hungry and no other food is to be had, 
they sometimes devour the young of their own kind. At the 
pairing season, however, there are often fierce quarrels among 
the males. They try to seize and dismember each other with 
their powerful jaws (an endeavor which is shown in our pic- 
ture). The heavy blows of their tails lash the waters so furi- 
ously that all living creatures flee from the range of this battle 
of the giants. At the pairing time the crocodiles, particularly 
the males, emit a pungent odor of musk. The female lays 
from forty to fifty eggs of about the size and shape of the goose 
Qgg. These are deposited in a deep ditch and covered over with 
sand. The mother remains near by and guards the eggs care- 
fully. When the young are ready to creep out she breaks the 
shell, because the offspring are not able to do it for themselves. 
How the mother knows the right moment for this operation was 
a profound mystery in former times, but a natural scientist has 
observed recently that the young crocodiles, Avhen they are 
ready to leave the egg, utter a quacking sound, and thereby 
summon the watchful mother to her duty. The crocodile is of 
no commercial value to civilized man, but the natives esteem its 
flesh, fat, and eggs as delicacies, and the musk-glands are highly 
prized by the native women, who use their contents as an oint- 
ment for the hair and body. The natives kill the crocodile with 
a javelin tipped with an iron barb, but the more effective weapon 
agamst him is the bullet, which readily pierces his armored hide. 
The assertion that the animal cannot be killed with firearms, 
because the projectile rebounds harmlessly from his thick skin, 
is therefore erroneous. 




A Duel between Crocodiles. 



THE APTERYX AND THE DINGO. 53 



The Apteryx and the Dingo. 

WHEN the evening shadows fall on New Zealand and 
Van Diemen's Land, a grotesque Hfe begins to stir in 
the forests of those distant regions. Strange forms 
leave the burrows in the earth in which they have dreamed away 
half the day. They are the snipe-ostriches, or apteryces. The 
long, snipeUke bill of the apteryx and his broad foot with three 
toes in front and one behind growing a little higher than the 
rest indicate that the creature is a bird, although in other ways 
it bears but little resemblance to a bird ; for the plump body, as 
large as that of a hen, seems at first sight to be covered with a 
bristly fur, and there is no trace of wings or tail upon it. But 
if we succeed in getting hold of one of these animals, we shall 
discover on closer observation that the covering of its skin is 
made up of closely growing feathers, among which, quite con- 
cealed, are two small, flaplike wings. If we wish to observe 
the apteryx in its nightly rambles, we must seek the wooded 
mountain. A mother apteryx and her young are an especially 
interesting sight. She comes along slowly, with a broad stride. 
Her neck is bent, and now and then she pokes her long bill into 
the ground, then withdraws it slowly, almost always pullmg a 
worm out of the ground with it. Then, throwing her head 
back with a quick jerk, she swallows her prey or gives it to 
her little ones. When the bird withdraws its beak from the 
ground, it makes a peculiar sneezing noisC; which is probably 



54 ANIMALS IN ACTION. 

the result of its efforts to be rid of the earth which has cov- 
ered its nostrils near the tip of the beak. But while the 
mother is busy seeking food, and her young have perhaps 
strayed away, a dog's head with ears erect becomes visible and 
peers over a neighboring tree-stump with wide-open jaws. 
Without a sound the animal glides forward upon its long, 
slender body, which is marked with numerous black stripes 
running from the back to the stomach. This is the dingo, a 
hungry and rapacious beast of prey. The result of its attack 
cannot be in doubt. The surprised apteryx, which can neither 
fly nor defend itself, but must save itself by running, will soon 
be caught and torn to pieces by the nimble dingo ; and if the 
young in the meantime have not found a safe hiding-place, 
they also will fall an easy prey to the freebooter. Besides the 
dingo, the apteryx has also to fear man and his domestic animals, 
such as the dog and the cat. The apteryx is hunted for its 
savory flesh. Skeet relates that for a long time he and his 
people subsisted solely on the meat of this bird, which compares 
favorably with the tenderest beef. Because of its value as 
game, the apteryx h'as long since disappeared from inhabited 
neighborhoods. Little is known concerning the reproductive 
habits of this curious bird. Hunters have observed that the 
female builds the nest, and lays into it two unusually large eggs, 
which the male hatches out. In what condition the young 
leave the Qgg is not known, as no apteryx has ever been 
hatched in captivity. To judge from the size of the egg, how- 
ever, the young are probably well developed when they leave 
the shell. 




k 




\ 







(^^^\^' 









Apteryx threatened by a Dingo. 



THE ANACONDA FISHING. ' 57 



The Anaconda Fishing. 

THE anaconda (the Latin name given it by science is Eii- 
nectes mttrmus) is closely related to that giant snake, the 
boa-constrictor. It is a native of tropical South America. 
It reaches a length of twenty-three feet, and the color scheme of 
its skin is regular and distinct ; the ground color of the back is a 
black olive-green, that of the back of the head an olive-gray, 
approaching yellow on the borders of the jaws. The skin is 
striped and dotted, with dark brown stripes and round or oval 
spots distributed in a more or less regular design all over the 
body. The anaconda lives in the swamps, as near to the water 
as possible, or in the water itself. It can remain under the water 
for a very long time, swims excellently, and often floats with the 
current for a long distance. On the other hand, it also likes to 
lie upon a bank or a rock, or half buried in the hot sand, there 
to sun itself and He in wait for its prey, which consists of the 
four-footed animals that come down to the water, such as the 
tapir and the agouti, as well as ducks and other birds. For 
the large fish it watches from the bank, or its powerful body 
coiled upon the bough of a tree over the water, darting upon its 
victim with a movement of lightninglike rapidity. The reptile 
grasps the fish with its mouth and breaks the backbone by 
twisting a coil about it ; then it proceeds to swallow its catch. 
Such a proceeding is shown in our picture. 

The movements of the anaconda in the water are exceedingly 
nimble and graceful, but upon land the serpent is slow and 



58 ANIMALS IN ACTION. 

well-nigh helpless. Its greed, however, goes with it when it is 
on the land ; and if an anaconda has once been in the neighbor- 
hood of a plantation or barnyard in which it has seized a duck 
or a hen, it generally remains near by until it has devoured 
all the rest of the flock. For this purpose it lies among the 
reeds of a neighboring swamp or in some crevice or ditch. In 
Guiana the planters kill the anaconda with buckshot, which, 
by shattering its backbone, paralyzes the animal and makes it 
helpless. Whenever the Indians can get near enough to it they 
shoot it with arrows. The anaconda is so tenacious of life that 
its body continues to move long after the head has been sev- 
ered from it, the skin drawn off, and the entrails taken out. 
The Indians and Bushnegros eat its flesh, which is very white 
and succulent They use its fat as a healing ointment, and 
prepare a tough leather out of its skin, which the whites use 
for horse-blankets, boots, and bags. The natives also eat the 
soft-shelled eggs of the anaconda, considering them a great 
delicacy. 




The Anaconda fishing. 



SEA-ELEPHANTS. 61 



Sea-elephants. 

THE sea-elephant, or Cystophora elephantina as his scien- 
tific name runs, is one of the rarest and most interesting 
among the seals. Formerly it inhabited the coasts of 
Patagonia, California, and Tasmania in great herds. To-day, 
because of the thoughtless and pitiless persecution to which it 
has been subjected by the seal hunters, it is to be found in 
decreasingly small numbers only on the almost inaccessible 
cliffs of the Arctic Ocean. The sea-elephant is larger than any 
of the rest of its kind. Full-grown males have been known 
to reach a length of more than twenty-five feet and a weight 
of ten thousand pounds. The wide, globular head of the male 
ends in a trunk snout, at the end of which are the nostrils. 
When the animal is at rest the snout hangs over the mouth, 
but when it is excited the formation becomes inflated and looks 
somewhat like a sausage. The eyes are round and full, and 
are surrounded by two rows of hairy feelers, which also grow 
sparsely upon the Hps. The stumpy fore flippers are equipped 
with short but sharp claws, while the toes of the hind flippers are 
nailless. The short, stiff fur is of a uniform brown or grayish 
blue. The female is perceptibly smaller than the male, and 
lacks the nasal ornaments that adorn her lord. The sea-ele- 
phant is a good-tempered creature, and, like the rest of its kin, 
moves about awkwardly enough on land, but is very agile in 
the water. To the last degree indifferent to its own kind and 



62 ANIMALS IN ACTION. 

SLir roil n dings, it swims about in a leisurely way in pursuit of 
fish and the lower orders of sea Ufe, and only the stress of 
pairing time arouses it from its stoical quiet. It mates be- 
tween September and January, during which time the male 
fights his rivals for the choice of a companion among the 
females. Ten months after pairing the female gives birth to 
her young, which, even at the time of birth, average five feet 
in length and nearly ninety pounds in weight. They are ten- 
derly nursed by their solicitous mother until they are about 
eight weeks old. 

The hunt for the sea-elephant is as easy as it is productive, 
when the herds are numerous. With cries, shots, and all man- 
ner of other din, the hunters in their boats drive the frightened 
animals on shore, where, armed with clubs, spears, and firearms, 
they senselessly exterminate the defenceless creatures, sparing 
neither young nor old, male nor female. Oil is made of the 
blubber of the sea-elephant, and its salted tongue is esteemed 
a rare delicacy. Our illustration shows a herd of sea-elephants 
which has established its camp upon the cUffs of the seacoast 
near its native element. Here the animals repose in peace and 
comfort. 







Sea-elephants basking in the Sun. 



LIFE BENEATH THE SEA. 65 



Life beneath the Sea. 

THE deep-water drag-net which is lowered upon the bot- 
tom of the sea to rob it of some of its Hving treasures, 
is an extended, boxHke trap of plaited wire, equipped 
with funnel-shaped openings in the sides. These afford an easy- 
entrance for the animals which the net is designed to capture ; 
yet, when an unhappy creature has once entered the four-cor- 
nered space, it seldom finds its way out again, but is held a 
prisoner by the closing up of the narrow entrance. 

An electric glow-lamp gleams inside the trap, sending out 
shafts of Hght through the dark water. The electricity is gen- 
erated in a chemical battery in the bottom of the apparatus, 
and a balloon is fastened above it to counteract the enor- 
mous pressure of the water at great depths. The metal case 
which holds the battery is connected by a tube with this air 
chamber. The latter is compressed by the increase of pressure, 
and a part of the air is thus forced into the protecting box of the 
iDattery. The application of this mechanism to the purposes of 
science is credited to the reigning prince of Monaco, an enthu- 
siastic deep-sea explorer. 

When this apparatus is lowered to the muddy bottom of the 
sea, the light of the electric lamp discloses great masses of coral 
and sponge, but the mechanism is not designed to disturb these. 
If the operator wished to collect them, he would have to use 
a drag-net fitted with sharp cogs, which are contrived to cut 



66 ANIMALS IN ACTION. 

away the animals clinging to the bottom and bring them to 
the surface. But among the corals and sponges there live and 
move many strange animals of curious forms and habits. As 
the drag-net sweeps through the water, it falls upon strange 
little crabs, looking for all the world like shrimps, with their 
great, long feelers. Out of the dark recesses appear fishes 
which have been attracted by the light. They venture nearer 
and nearer the wonderful gleam, and soon one of them has 
found its way into the tempting prison, soon to be followed by 
others. When the captives are examined, some marvellous 
forms of marine life reward the efforts of the scientist. 

While some fishes dart hither and thither through the water 
for their prey, others lurk in the mud ; but the electric light 
exercises its fascination even over these latter creatures, and 
a few of them forsake their hiding-places and swim toward the 
gleaming point. One of the most extraordinary creatures that 
is caught in the deep-sea drag-net is a fellow with long, wisp- 
like legs, strutting about like a spider. The legs of this animal 
are about as thick as ordinary straw, and its body of about the 
same thickness as that of its weaver cousin, the spider. But its 
size over all reaches a number of decimetres, whereas its land 
counterfeit measures only a few centimetres in length. Science 
does not furnish us an explanation of the salamanders and 
dragons with which the ancient poets have peopled the deep, 
but the study of the pecuHar animal world which exists fathoms 
below the ocean has a fund of interesting facts to disclose. 
Many different methods have been devised to place the scien- 
tists in close touch with these marvels, and among the devices 
employed for this purpose the electrically lighted sea-net is one 
of the most origmal and effective. 



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THE CONDOR AND THE LLAMA. 69 



The Condor and the Llama. 

THE condor sways a lordly rule in the high mountains of 
the South American Andes, from the equator to the 45th 
parallel, south latitude, in the same way as his very dis- 
tant cousin, the golden eagle, holds sway over the loftiest moun- 
tain-tops of America and Europe. The condor is the largest of 
the combed vultures known to science as '* SarsorhampJms 
gryphiis'' Much has been written during the past few decades 
about this, the mightiest bird of prey. In length he averages 
over forty inches and his wings measure as much as ten feet from 
tip to tip. His main color is black with a dark, steel-blue glint, 
and a strip of white through the middle of the wing, while the 
back of the head, the breast and throat are dark gray and always 
bare. The wrinkled skin on both sides of the neck in the male 
is a bright red, the neck a darker shade of the same color, and 
the crop almost a pink. The red flesh-comb on the head and 
the velvetlike collar distinguish the condor quite sharply from 
other mountain birds. His wings are very strong, his swiftness 
of flight extraordinary, and the sharpness of his eyesight won- 
derful. Like the rest of the vultures, he lives chiefly on carrion, 
but when no carrion is to be found he pounces upon the herds 
and works great havoc among the lambs, sheep, goats, and 
calves, as well as among the different kinds of llama, or South 
American camel. The natives of the localities in which he lives 
have, therefore, no mercy upon him, and employ all sorts of 



7u ANIMALS IN ACTION. 

devices to destroy him. It is almost inconceivable how the con- 
dor, sweeping about at so great a height that the naked eye 
can scarcely see him, can descry a dead animal in the remotest 
valley. Even at a greater distance can this lordly scavenger 
follow with his glance a fellow-wanderer whose presence the 
human eye can hardly detect even with the aid of a telescope. 
It often happens that the carrion which has attracted the condor 
from his dizzy heights has been placed there by an ingenious 
hunter to entice the mighty bird within reach of his weapons. 
When the condor has espied an animal which he desires to 
capture, he either flaps his wings about the head of his victim 
until the latter is so frightened and confused that it plunges 
over a precipice, to be dashed to pieces in the depths below, or 
he pounces down upon his prey, seizes upon it with his great 
talons, and pecks a hole through its head. The swift-footed 
llama is especially exposed to the ravages of the condor. Our 
picture shows a powerful condor which has harassed one of 
these useful domestic animals until the poor creature has 
plunged to the bottom of the precipice. The bird then hastens 
to despatch his prey and to gorge himself with the carcass. 
In the distance, however, a robber companion has already ap- 
peared, and our condor must share his prize with the newcomer 
or risk a battle. 




Condor capturing a Llama 



THE GIANT SALAMANDER. 73 



The Giant Salamander. 

THE salamandridae, with their lizard forms, flat heads, 
sharp, protruding eyes, their moist, cold bodies, covered 
with glands and warts, their life in the water, in the 
darkest crevices of mysterious caverns, have been for genera- 
tions the object of the superstition of mankind. The silliest 
stories have been told of some kinds of salamanders. PHny 
said : '' The salamander can destroy the human race. When 
it climbs a tree it poisons all its fruit; if it falls in a well it 
poisons the water. Indeed, if bread is kneaded upon a board 
which it has touched with its feet, whoever eats it will be poi- 
soned." Similar stories were generally told of the salamander 
during the Middle Ages, and even to-day the animal is regarded 
with terror by the ignorant. 

The fire salamander is found in great numbers in Central 
Europe. He is colored black and flecked with gold and yellow 
spots. Among the Alps, up to the very snow line, is found the 
Alpine salamander, a small, unspotted animal of an average 
length of three and a half inches. The most conspicuous mem- 
ber of the whole family is the Japanese giant salamander {^Mega- 
lobatrachus gigantens\ which sometimes exceeds thirty inches in 
length. This interesting animal is pictured in our sketch. 
F. V. Siebold, a well-known German scientist, discovered the 
giant salamander upon the island of Nippon in Japan, but 
precise accounts of the animal were not furnished until later 



74 ANIMALS IN ACTION. 

by Rein and Roretz. According to these authorities the giant 
salamander lives in the southern parts of the island of Nippon 
in clear waters and springs, and the Japanese call it "haze-koi." 
The color of the creature is a muddy light grayish brown with 
darker spots. Its young are cinnamon colored with their skin 
free from warts. The larger and older the animal grows the 
more uneven becomes its skin, and the more prominent the 
spots upon it. 

The giant salamander is an extremely lazy fellow. Under 
normal conditions he lies motionless upon the bottom of the 
basin in which he lives, preferably in the darkest part of it. 
From time to time he raises his round nose out of the water to 
breathe, and then sinks back to his interrupted nap. His diet 
consists of fish, frogs, and worms, which he snaps up as they 
swim unsuspectingly by his motionless nose. After he has had 
a sufficient meal, he frequently goes hungry for a whole week 
at a time rather than trouble himself to obtain another supply 
of provisions. The Japanese catch him with fishhooks, or drag 
him from his lurking place after having drawn off the water. 
His flesh tastes well and is a staple on the market. The giant 
salamander, like the rest of his kind, is very tenacious of life. 
He can remain out of the water for a long time, and is hardly 
injured by freezing temperature. 









■w 



The Giant Salamander fighting. 



HUNTING WITH THE CHETAH. 77 



Hunting with the Chetah. 

THE province of Central Asia was famed as a hunting- 
ground in the earhest times known to history. Quail, 
rain piper, snipe, black hares, and wild boars, besides 
herds of light-footed antelopes and elusive stags, are even now 
scattered in great numbers throughout that country. The 
Indian princes are passionate hunters, and especially do they 
love the chase of the antelope, in which they use the chetah 
much as other huntsmen use the dog. This interesting beast of 
prey is somewhat like a cat and somewhat like a dog. He has a 
head and a long tail like those of the cat, while the rest of his body, 
as well as his long legs with their outstretched claws, though 
movable like those of the cat, resembles that of the dog. In 
the appearance of his face the chetah recalls the cat, but in his 
eyes shines the good-nature of the dog. The beast is therefore 
easily tamed and trained for the purposes of the chase. Joseph 
Barboro saw, in 1474, a pack of a hundred head of such chetahs 
owned by a prince of Armenia, and even to-day the Hindoo 
noblemen expend no insignificant sums of money upon their che- 
tah kennels. An American traveller recently attended a hunt 
with the aid of chetahs at Delhi. The animals, with eyes bound, 
were brought upon a two-wheeled ox-cart, to which some of 
them had been secured with a cord, while others were confined 
in wooden cages. Then they were taken to the stamping-ground 
of the antelopes, which had been previously reconnoitred in 
order to ascertain the strategic possibilities of the place and the 



78 ANIMALS IN ACTION. 

probable whereabouts of the game. The hunters try to get as 
near the herd as possible. If this movement is successful, a 
halt is made, the chetahs are set free, and the bandages are 
removed from their eyes, as is shown in our picture. As soon 
as the four-footed hunters see the antelopes, they crouch close 
to the ground, creep forward against the sweep of the wind, 
serpentlike and silent, but with wonderful quickness, taking 
advantage of every bush, every tuft of grass, and every mound 
of earth as a screen to conceal their approach. In the mean- 
while they watch intently every movement of the game. So 
long as the leader of the herd" continues on guard, with head 
erect, the rest of the antelopes remain at their ease. When the 
chetahs have come within striking distance, they rush forward 
with mighty bounds upon the terrified animals, spring upon 
their necks, bite through their throats, and suck their blood. 
When the hunters come up, they restore the bandages to the 
eyes of their chetahs, and then cut off the heads of the fallen 
antelopes and catch their blood in wooden bowls. By holding 
the blood-filled vessels before the chetah they finally succeed in 
getting the animals away from their prey, and tie them to the 
cart like so many dogs. After the game has been taken care 
of, the hunters move on in search of a fresh herd. Although 
the murder of the graceful antelopes by their cruel enemy is 
shocking to Christian sensibilities, history has many recorded 
instances of the use of the chetah by European princes. As far 
back as 1640, Leopold I. of Austria received as a gift from the 
Sultan of Turkey two trained chetahs, with which he often 
hunted. 




Hunting Antelopes with Chetalis. 



THE CLIMBING KANGAROO. 



The Climbing Kangaroo. 

** A LL observers agree," so says the great naturalist Brehm, 
h\ '' that no more remarkable sight can be conceived than a 
^ -^ climbing kangaroo, which moves with agility among the 
branches of trees and exhibits almost all kinds of climbing that 
are observable among the mammals." One observer declares 
that when he first saw a climbing kangaroo, — it was in the Lon- 
don Zoological Gardens, — he could not for a long time withdraw 
his eyes from the queer spectacle which the great, awkward beast 
presented as it jumped about, high among the branches. To 
all outward appearances the climbing kangaroo is not unlike 
its well-known cousin of the Australian plain, and yet in some 
respects it is an altogether unique animal. The director of the 
Berlin Zoological Gardens, Dr. Heck, succeeded in securing 
several of these rare creatures. For some time they lived in 
the monkey house. The curiosity of the crowd was for some 
time divided equally between them and the orang-outang, which 
was at that time one of the greatest rarities in zoological col- 
lections. The chmbing kangaroos are generally very sleepy 
and sluggish fellows, and the scientist is compelled to remain at 
his post for a long time before he can get an opportunity to see 
them move. Toward evening, however, they become lively and 
bound from bough to bough or chmb up the trunks of the trees 
with great rapidity. Rape, potatoes, and rice are their chief 
articles of food when in captivity. The specimens at Berlin 
have a particular scientific value, because they belong to a 



82 ANIMALS IN ACTION. 

family which was discovered only recently. There are but few 
known data about the life of the climbing kangaroo. It is not 
known, for instance, what they feed on in their natural state. 
The indications are that they eat various fruits, buds, and per- 
haps green twigs and leaves. The climbing kangaroos, it is 
said, become attached to some particular tree and spend their 
days in slothful ease among its highest branches. At night 
they leave their homes and descend to the ground in large num- 
bers. The climbing kangaroo is valuable on account of its 
excellent flesh and is hunted with bloodhounds. When the 
hound has discovered the tree-home of the kangaroo, the hunter 
can count on results almost with certainty, for several of the 
animals are generally found there fast asleep. A native climbs 
up, seizes the nearest creature by its long tail, and kills it with 
a club, or else drives it from the tree, thus putting it at the 
mercy of the dogs. 



The Striped Adder and the Frog. 

A WELL-KNOWN animal painter here places before us, 
with wonderful truth to nature, his sketch of an interest- 
ing scene from the lower animal kingdom, — an illustra- 
tion of the fact that even there, as everywhere else, the struggle 
for existence is constantly going on. The picture shows us a 
striped adder, which has caught a frog and is preparing to de- 
vour the poor, trembling creature. Frogs are, in fact, the chief 
prey of the otherwise harmless striped adder, which is among 
the most common species of serpent. Linck has described, 
in a most vivid manner, the course of such a hunt : — 

" Fully aware of the intentions of the nearing enemy, the 




An Adder catching a Grass Frog. 



THE STRIPED ADDER AND THE FROG. 85 

frog notices in due season the coming of the adder, for he 
recognizes his grim enemy by instinct, and sometimes by the 
recollection of previous experiences with the creeping hunter. 
The frightened animal tries to run away from his pursuer, 
but discovers, as all hunted animals generally do, that the gap 
between him and the enemy that is pursuing him only closes 
up the faster for its futile struggles. The poor frog is 
benumbed with terror, so that he seldom hops, but seeks 
safety in running, and when he hops at all it is only in short, 
jerky jumps. Escape would be easy for him if he could make 
the mighty standing springs by which he propels himself over 
the ground with great speed under ordinary circumstances. At 
this time the hunted animal utters a strange cry of anguish, 
which has no resemblance whatever to the sounds which we 
are accustomed to hear from frogs, and which might proceed 
from any creature but a frog. It is like the trembling, pro- 
longed bleat of a lamb, but it is more drawn out and falls upon 
the ear as the very voice of despair. Such a pursuit seldom 
lasts more than a minute, and then the striped adder seizes 
his prey and proceeds to devour it. The process is a pecul- 
iarly shocking one. The serpent does not wait until he has 
killed his prey, but forces it down into his stomach alive. One 
hind leg follows the other, and the snake draws the unhappy 
frog slowly down his throat, while the poor thing struggles and 
croaks miserably so long as he can open his mouth." 



86 AiNli\L'\LS IN ACTION. 



The Walrus. 

THE greatest, most powerful, and most interesting of all 
the varieties of the seal (or Pinnipedia) is the walrus 
(whose scientific name is TrichechiLS rosinariis). The 
walrus is now to be found only in the Polar seas and the shores 
adjoining. The whalers sometimes capture this great animal 
as it swims, but more often as it lies in large numbers on the 
steep ice-covered cliffs. It reaches a length of about fifteen 
feet, and specimens have been known to weigh as much as 
fifteen hundred pounds. The long body of the walrus, like 
that of the sea-dog of the northern coasts of Europe, is thickest 
in the middle and tapers almost to a point in the rear. The 
great limbs of the animal protrude from its body almost like 
flaps, but the joints in its fore legs, like those of its hind legs, are 
easily distinguishable, and its five-toed, finlike feet end in short, 
thick claws. Its enormously thick hide, nearly devoid of hair, 
is wrinkled and creased, and the tail looks like a mere overlap- 
ping of the skin. The most characteristic feature of the walrus 
is its small round head, with its short and broad snout, ending in 
fleshy and puffed-out lips. At both sides of the mouth are rows 
of round, horny bristles, growing close together and varying in 
number. The walrus uses his jaws in a very remarkable way. 
The six front teeth and the two lower pointed teeth are entirely 
lacking, and instead of these it has two monstrous tusks nearly 
two feet long and projecting far out of the mouth. The color of 




Walruses sunning themselves. 



THE WALRUS. 89 

this peculiar sea monster is a leather-brown which sometimes 
passes into gray. The male and the female are very much alike 
in coloring and form. For many centuries past the walrus has 
been industriously hunted, for the carcass of the animal is very 
valuable, both on account of the oil that it yields, and for its heavy 
and hard tusks. Although the walrus is a powerful swimmer, it 
seldom goes at a great distance from the seacoast, and the 
whalers generally regard its appearance as an indication of the 
nearness of land. The food of the animal is so uniform in its 
nature, consisting entirely of fish, sea-mussels, and the like, that 
the walrus itself is exceptionally steady in its habits. When it 
is not searching for food, it lies for hours and days in the same 
spot, upon an ice-floe or a steep cHff. Its only enemies are the 
bear and the whale-hunter, and with both of these it wages 
bitter war. It often happens that the hunters barely escape 
with their lives from the enraged beast, which, in spite of quick- 
firing arms and powerful spear-thrusts, often seizes and overturns 
a boat. The ruthless advance of the whalers has gradually 
driven the walrus farther and farther north. At the beginning 
of the century herds of a hundred head or so were plentiful in 
Spitzbergen and Greenland, and indeed no further back than 
twenty years ago it was one of the most numerous oil-bearing 
animals of those regions. It is seldom seen nowadays, and 
doubtless the complete extinction of the species is close at hand. 



90 ANIMALS IN ACTION. 



The Water Moccasin. 

THE water moccasin (known to natural history by its sci- 
entific name of Ancistrodoii piscivonis) is one of the most 
dangerous among the venomous reptiles of North Amer- 
ica. It is a powerful serpent, nearly five feet long, and it lives 
in streams, lakes, and boggy moors. It is dangerous not only in 
the water, but on the adjoining land as well. The water moc- 
casin apparently takes pleasure in the act of kiUing, for it bites 
even when satiated, and menaces not only an assailant, but attacks 
any living creature that may be in the vicinity of its gliding body. 
It is, therefore, the particular terror of laborers who work in 
swampy places, such as the rice fields. The venom of this ser- 
pent is frightful in its effect. It kills warm-blooded, as v/ell as 
cold-blooded, creatures, and even some species of poisonous 
snakes have been known to succumb to it. Fish and frogs are 
the favorite food of the water moccasin ; but while trapping 
these creatures, the squirming hunter is sometimes caught in a 
dilemma, as is shown in our picture, for the serpent has already 
seized the fish in the water when it catches sight of a frog. 
Thereupon it deserts the old prey, and with unerring aim 
attacks the new. The general color of the water moccasin con- 
sists of brown stripes upon a light ground, but it often varies ; 
for, like other snakes, water moccasins adapt themselves to the 
color scheme of their surroundings. Thus there are black, 
earth-brown, chestnut-brown, and olive-colored varieties. 




Water Moccasin Snake frog-hunting. 



THE GREAT TURTLE. 93 

The water moccasin can live on dry land, and is a prolific 
breeder. Even in captivity he does not lose his murderous 
instincts, and poisons in a short time any creature that may be 
placed in the same cage with him. The fierce rattlesnakes 
themselves do not escape its deadly bite. 



The Great Turtle. 

ALMOST all the travellers of the sixteenth and seventeenth 
centuries who have published accounts of their discoveries 
in the Pacific Ocean dwell at length upon the strangeness 
of the Galapagos or Turtle Islands. Upon these islands the trav- 
ellers found neither human beings nor any of the larger mammals, 
but in their stead a countless number of great turtles. Nowadays 
the animals are well-nigh extinct, and upon the Galapagos Islands, 
which now belong to the republic of Ecuador, there is to be 
found but a single variety of this mighty land turtle, — the Great 
Turtle, as it is called, — which is becoming rarer and rarer each 
year. When Charles Darwin visited the Galapagos in 1835, he 
found there a multitude of these animals, which were over four 
feet long, more than three feet in width, and almost three feet 
in height. He recorded his impressions of them in detail. The 
great turtle is brown, shading almost into black, and weighs two 
hundred and twenty pounds on the average, although some have 
been killed that furnished that weight of edible flesh alone. 
Those that live upon the plains feed upon the juicy cactus 
plant, while their friends of the moist highlands crop the leaves 
of various trees and browse upon whatever berries they can find. 
All of them love the water, and great numbers flock to the 
watercourses and disport themselves in the mud. In conse- 



94 ANIMALS IN ACTION. 

quence of the constant migrations of these animals to the rim- 
ing brooks .upon the highlands, the island has been laid out in 
broad, well-beaten paths leading to the waters. Such a drinking 
place, in the immediate vicinity of a spring, is a remarkable 
spectacle. The clumsy turtles, as in our picture, with pon- 
derous gait and outstretched neck, go craning towajd the water, 
while others that have already quenched their thirst are turn- 
ing away. As soon as the thirsty animals reach the spring they 
plunge their heads into the water and gulp away greedily, taking 
about ten swallows a minute. 

It is a curious fact that while by day these animals are ex- 
tremely timid, withdrawing their heads into their shells at the 
slightest alarm, at night they seem quite blind and deaf, and 
even the discharge of a shotgun does not make the slightest 
impression upon them. Even in the daytime, however, they 
are hard of hearing ; for the observer can walk up close behind 
them without alarming them. They are so strong that they can 
waddle about peacefully with a full-grown man on the back. 
But it is more difficult to maintain one's equilibrium upon the 
back of a turtle than upon that of a camel. The flesh of the 
great turtle is so desirable a delicacy that the species is now 
almost extinct. 




Elephant Turtles going to the Water. 



BATTLE WITH A POLAR BEAR. 97 



An Esquimau in Battle with a Polar Bear. 

THE Esquimaux, who dwell upon the sea-coast, in Greenland 
or on Hudson Bay, are essentially a fishing-folk. But 
during the winter months they depend largely upon hunt- 
ing for their living. For the most part they capture seals, wal- 
ruses, and narwhals, but when opportunity offers attack even the 
formidable polar bear, as in our picture. The white-coated bruin, 
who lives in the extreme north, is larger even than the grizzly ; 
for the total length of the male is often seven feet and some- 
times more. His weight runs from ten to fifteen hundredweight. 
The polar bear is to be found in the entire Arctic zone and the 
territories adjoining it, but is especially common upon the coasts 
of Baffin and Hudson bays, in Greenland and in Labrador. He 
is quite as likely to be met with upon an ice floe as upon dry 
land ; he swims superbly, and remains in the icy water for hours 
without feeling any discomfort. His food consists of almost all 
the varieties of animals that frequent the land and water of his 
northern home, but the different varieties of seal are his favorite 
food, and he is so sly and active that he seizes these wary animals 
without very much trouble. In hunting the polar bear on land 
the Esquimaux build wooden huts from which they watch for 
him, or else they avail themselves of a bit of strategy. Bend- 
ing a piece of whalebone about four inches wide and two feet 
long in the form of a circle, they cover it completely with 
seal fat and let it freeze. This contrivance, which looks for 



98 ANIMALS IN ACTION. 

all the world like a lump of fat, they then leave upon the ice, 
and disappear. When Master Bruin comes along he perceives 
the tempting object, smells it, and then proceeds to swallow it. 
After the fat has thawed in the warm stomach of the animal, 
the circle of whalebone, being released, springs apart and tears 
his bowels. 

But the Esquimaux sometimes give open battle to the polar 
bear, either upon land or in the water. Their boats, or kayaks, 
which they manage with great dexterity, are some twenty feet 
long and less than two feet wide ; they are made of light wooden 
frames, and covered with seal hide ; they have a round open- 
ing in which the occupant sits. The course of this little boat 
is governed by a small paddle oar as wide as the hand at each 
end. Besides the bow and arrow, these polar huntsmen use a 
harpoon or spear as their weapon. The Esquimau in our 
picture is advancing boldly with lance couched against the 
savage polar bear that has suddenly sprung up against his 
kayak. The bears defend themselves with great courage and 
skill even in the water, and there are instances enough on record 
of such hunts that have terminated fatally for the hunters. 



••*• P 




Esquimau in Kayak attacked by Polar Bear. 



THE SWAN AND THE FOX. loi 



The Swan and the Fox. 

IN the north of Europe, as well as in northern and central Asia, 
there lives the wild or singing swan, the Cygmts musicus of 
the naturalists, a beautiful, stately bird, only a little smaller 
than the tame or hump-backed swan. As a bird of passage the 
wild swan visits central Europe in October, and in March and 
April, and is to be found in great numbers on the German 
lakes throughout the winter. His customary winter home, 
however, is in the swamps and lakes of Greece and the greater 
bodies of water in the north of Africa and the south of 
Europe. He owes his name, the ''singing swan," to the double- 
toned, beautiful, loud, and prolonged cry which he utters. This 
sound, especially if many of the birds are together, or are fly- 
ing at a high altitude, resembles distant blasts of a trombone. 
In beauty of form and grace of movement, however, the wild 
swan is inferior to the tame variety. His body is more angu- 
lar, and his neck shorter, than those of the swan with which 
we are familiar. His length of body averages about four feet, 
the length of his wings is over two feet, and that of his tail 
half a foot. In his northern home the singing swan is exposed 
to many vicissitudes. Not only man but many rapacious beasts 
hunt him or his young. The fox especially has a liking for the 
tender flesh of young swans, and when he has found the nest 
of a singing swan he circles around it and lurks about continu- 



102 ANIMALS IN AC HON. 

ally, watching his chances to seize one of the brood. That, 
however, is not so easy to accomplish, for the singing swan is 
the most vehement and courageous bird of all its kin, and, 
with the utmost daring and tenacity, the mother swan defends 
her nest, which contains from five to seven offspring. 

She receives the fox boldly, and sets upon him so fiercely 
with heavy blows of her wings and piercing thrusts of her beak 
that she generally drives the intruder away in ignominy. Our 
illustration depicts such a battle between a mother swan and 
Master Reynard. Ordinarily, moreover, the father swan is not 
far off, and at the first call for help he hurries to his wife. Then 
the fox must quit the field unconditionally, and give up, for 
the time being, all hope of obtaining the coveted morsel. 



Hunting the Tiger with Elephants. 

THE accompanying picture presents an oft recurrent and 
, dramatic scene in East India, the wonderland of earthly 
splendor. The esteem for nature which characterizes 
the mind of the Hindu has moulded his entire system of worship. 
His religion bade him plant two trees for each one that he cut 
down, and forbade him to kill an animal wantonly. This habit 
of mind furnishes a partial explanation for the existence of so 
many thousands of wild animals in the very midst of the swarm- 
ing population of India. The ravages of the tigers among the 
natives are an appalling feature of life in India. The Indian 
Blue Book of 1875 shows that thirteen villages, taking up a 
territory of 260 English square miles, were depopulated and 
made utterly desolate by a tigress. Again, in 1869, a tigress 
is said to have devoured 127 people, and the loss of life by 
wild beasts for a period of six years was given as thirteen thou- 




Swan in Battle with a Fox. 



HUNTING THE TIGER WITH ELEPHANTS. 105 

sand. Although, since the occupation of India by the British, 
the destructive firearms of the sportsman have already laid 
low thousands of tigers, they are still numerous in many locali- 
ties, and years must elapse before mankind shall have accom- 
plished a complete victory over these beautiful pests. A 
tiger-hunt with elephants is a great pastime of the native 
princes and wealthy English residents of India. Only the 
steadiest and best-trained elephants can be employed for this 
chase, for if the elephant should flinch before the rush of the 
tiger he would expose his riders to great danger. Ordinarily 
such hunts are conducted with great pomp, and many elephants 
are used in them. The elephants are driven slowly into the 
jungle by their drivers, who sit upon the necks of the animals. 
While all other wild animals that may be disturbed by the pon- 
derous march of the party are allowed to escape unmolested, 
the hunters keep a close watch for the slow creeping of the 
tiger, whose presence is betrayed as a rule only by the move- 
ments of the tall jungle grass. Towards that direction the marks- 
men take careful aim in an effort to cripple the tiger at the 
first shot. In most cases, however, he is only enraged by the 
first wound, and springs desperately upon the back of the first 
elephant. The wounded brute often tears down one of the 
hunters, and then crouches down for a spring upon the driver, 
who seeks to defend himself with upHfted kris. But the saga- 
cious elephant now winds his trunk about the tiger and tries to 
crush it in its powerful grasp. At this point the hunter, by a 
lucky shot in the eye, may render the monster harmless. This 
moment is a most critical one ; for the nearness of the tiger, 
the swaying motion of the elephant, and the excitement of the 
situation are sometimes fatal to the hunter's aim. But even 
when the tiger has been mortally wounded, the infuriated beast, 
struggling with death, often succeeds in lacerating or biting 



io6 ANIMALS IN ACTION. 

the elephant so painfully that the latter throws himself to the 
ground in an endeavor to crush his tormentor, and in so doing 
exposes the hunter to a fresh danger. As soon as the ele- 
phant has succeeded in shaking off the tiger, he elevates his 
trunk and trumpets his victory to the world. This done, the 
knowing animal forgets his wounds, for the time being, and 
continues his demonstrations of joy over the inanimate tiger, 
turning the body over and over with his trunk. Unfortu- 
nately the hunting fever of English sportsmen has already 
partially exterminated the wild elephants in India and Ceylon, 
so that rigid legislation has been demanded for the protection 
of these useful animals. 




A Tiger Hunt with Elephants in India. 



SAVED. 109 



Saved. 

THE accompanying picture reproduces a scene upon the 
great St. Bernard. A father and mother with their child 
are amidst the sohtude of the lofty mountains, struggling 
toward a southern home, perhaps in the plain of Aosta. The trav- 
ellers have left the last human habitation far behind them in the 
valley. The winds sing their thunderous song among the dizzy 
cliffs, and an autumn storm is raging on the mountain-tops. 
The blizzard, that frightful spirit of the mountains, rises before 
the wearied strugglers. From a hollow of the mountain comes 
a dark cloud, discharging a heavy snowfall upon the path. 
The gale tears and rages so violently that the poor travel- 
lers cannot get their breath, and the cold pierces them to 
the marrow. Presently the pressure of the wind becomes 
somewhat abated. An hour longer, and the safety of the 
mountain refuge will have been reached. But the fury of the 
storm is revived again and again. The child whimpers, 
" Mother, I'm tired." The dangerous thought creeps upon the 
tired senses of the parents, "Let us rest a little." They stop, 
and, overcome by sleep, sink down upon the snow, and pres- 
ently the storm smothers their last sweet dream of home. It 
is mild and painless — this approach of death upon the snow- 
covered mountain-side. But the exhausted ones will awake to life 
again. As soon as the blizzard or the avalanche begins to rage 
in the Alpine heights, the zealous monks of St. Bernard, with 



no ANIMALS IN ACTION. 

their faithful clogs, are on the way to save the unhappy travel- 
lers that may have been overcome by the storm. The animals, 
with their wonderful sense of smell, seek out the victims, be 
they buried ever so deep in the snow. They scrape up the 
white pall until they have disclosed the insensible human being 
beneath, and then they lick the sleeper warmly and caressingly. 
Presently, with returning hfe, the traveller awakes and feebly 
grasps the collar of the faithful animal, which joyously an- 
nounces its find to the rescuers by means of loud and prolonged 
baying. 

Touching tales have been told of the devotion of the St. Ber- 
nard dogs, and many poets have lauded their deeds. Mankind 
will remember with gratitude the dog Barry, which saved seven- 
teen travellers from imminent death, and perished upon its last 
errand of mercy. The person whom it had rescued mistook it 
for a wolf and sent a bullet into its heart. For over ten centu- 
ries have the monks of St. Bernard carried on their great work 
of mercy. In the past twenty years much has been accom- 
plished to lessen the need of their labors ; but from time to time 
the fearful tales of the past are reenacted, to be met with the 
same heroism and devotion. During the summer many tourists 
travel over the great St. Bernard, and according to their custom 
the monks place food and drink before them free of cost ; but 
few of the travellers fail to remember generously the great 
work for humanity to which the monks and their dogs are 
devoting themselves, now as in the past. 




o 
Q 



THE SHRIKE. 113 



The Shrike. 

ON a beautiful spring morning we take a path that leads us 
through field and wood, across meadows and over hills. 
We wish to see boundless Nature in all her royal beauty. 
Suddenly, on the border of a little clearing, we come upon an 
extraordinary scene. Impaled on thorns are a lot of beetles, 
grasshoppers, butterflies, and other large insects ; even reptiles, 
such as small frogs, lizards, and other similar animals, are thus 
discovered. It is the butcher shop of a singular bird. For it is 
a remarkable pecuHarity of the shrike, or butcher-bird, that he 
impales upon thorns in the neighborhood of his nest whatever 
part of his prey he does not at once consume, whether it be a blue- 
bottle or a beetle, a fly or a mouse, a larva, a fledgling, or even a 
full-grown bird. The butcher-bird hunts industriously all day 
long, and, as he has not a particularly voracious appetite, he 
quickly impales whatever comes under his beak. In fact, it 
appears that he hunts more for the pleasure of killing than 
for profit. 

There are many kinds of butcher-birds, ranging in size from 
a sparrow to a thrush. They are an odd variety between the 
birds of prey and the finches, and are related more or less 
closely to both. They comprise a family of many varieties and 
are scattered all over the world. As a rule the shrikes are 
beyond the protection of the law, and may be killed at all 
times. It must be admitted that they have deserved this 



114 ANIMALS IN ACTION. 

severity, but the little red-topped shrike should be excluded 
from that fate, because he is a harmless bird and lives only 
on insects. While we are reflecting upon these things we 
have wandered farther away from the thicket, over the meadow, 
and to the edge of the forest. Here we must sit and wait 
patiently for the red-backed fellow. With the increasing heat 
of noonday a stillness has come upon the scene, and only the 
chirp and buzz of insects is to be heard. Then suddenly there 
comes upon the ear, in a luxuriant wave of sound, the full, clear 
jubilee of the thrush, the sweet lullaby of the meadow-lark, 
intermingled with the trembling note of the finch, or the call of 
the black-backed hedge-sparrow, the merry strophe of the yellow 
mocker, and, last of all, the rich, mellow lilt of the linnet. 
Among these bird voices is the long-drawn cry of the oriole, the 
echoing " Hupp-hupp " of the hoopoo, and the ''pick — per — 
pick " of the quail. The uninitiated seeks in vain for the birds 
that have uttered these sounds. As a matter of fact they all 
come from the throat of the red-backed shrike, which has been 
called the ''mocker." But the rest of the butcher-bird tribe 
cannot be tolerated, because they destroy too many of the other 
denizens of the bird kingdom. 




The Shrike and his Prey. 



"l 



THE BLACK GELADA. 117 



The Black Gelada. 

THE black gelada (known to science as TJiei'opithectis 
gelada) is the great baboon of Africa. It lives in the 
lofty mountains of Abyssinia. Three or four males gen- 
erally accompany a troop of thirty or forty females, with their 
young, and when full grown measure nearly three feet from head 
to tail. These baboons spend their nights among the crevices 
of the hills, from which they issue after sunrise to begin their 
search for food. They eat herbs for the most part, but they 
also feed on all manner of roots and many insects. In the fore- 
ground of our picture we see the earnest captain of the band, 
who, with his pet wife, has already arranged the programme of 
the day, his pitch-black face denoting plainly a preoccupied 
state of mind. With left arm raised in rebuke he shows dis- 
tinctly the four sharply defined triangular spots on his breast and 
neck, which are either pale or quite blood-red, according to the 
humor of the animal. His better half is busily at work ridding 
the leg of her lord of the troublesome insects that have accu- 
mulated upon it, and is considering carefully the possible repri- 
mand that may come to her if he is not satisfied with her work. 
In the meanwhile the infant is taking advantage of the oppor- 
tunity to make a close study of papa's mighty tail, which ap- 
parently does not strike it as being in the right place. Directly 
behind the funny little fellow is the squat figure of the grand- 
mother of the family. She has long survived her palmy days, 



11^ ANIMALS IN ACTION. 

and with weary arms crossed upon her breast has fallen asleep, 
and is probably dreaming of " Aiild Lang Syne." Farther 
back a daughter of the family, with her baby on her back, is 
searching for a cricket that has been chirping in the grass. 
Nearly all apes carry their young at the breast, but these ani- 
mals that live wholly upon the ground have long ago reached 
the good judgment to carry their young astride of their backs 
in order to secure an unobstructed front view. When we ob- 
serve apes in captivity, we find that their entire appearance 
makes an impression of the presence of a reasoning power. The 
eyes of the male blink hither and. thither knowingly, appar- 
ently allowing nothing to escape their penetrating gaze, while 
the female has no time to look about her, being too deeply en- 
grossed with the care of her young one, which climbs restlessly 
above the bars and is recalled or chided frequently by its watch- 
ful mother. The voice of the ape is a very interesting study, 
as it is extremely varied in its modulations, and furnishes the 
animal with a more or less well-defined substitute for a lan- 
guage, the meaning of which unhappily we cannot understand. 
The apes even have a human conception of the justice of punish- 
ment, and box the ears of their young or of weaker apes Hghtly 
or heavily according to the magnitude of the offence. They are 
very particular about the quality of their food, and arrange 
herbs in orderly bunches, plucking out and throwing away the 
unwholesome parts. If a spectator comes too near the cage 
of a Gelada in confinement, a blow from the hand of the big 
fellow generally warns him of his imprudence. The thoroughly 
independent and serious demeanor of these animals presents the 
suggestion that they do not need the attention of man, for they 
are self-sufficient to a degree, and resent undue familiarity with 
great vigor. 




-^"-^w^^^^^i 



- - JvJ^3^.'^^:-^-.-"^^.j= 



The Gelada, or Great Baboon of Africa. 



EAGLE HAWK AND CHAMECK. 121 



Eagle Hawk and Chameck. 

THE primeval forest of the tropics is not limited to a few 
varieties of vegetation, but is replete with the greatest 
diversity of growing things, covered with thick clusters 
of the noblest blossoms, glowing with gorgeous colors. In the 
midst of this splendor the rays of the rising sun awaken the slum- 
bering world and furnish a signal for a busy animal hfe. Flocks 
of parrots enliven the tree-tops and flutter away screeching at the 
slightest disturbance. A multitude of monkeys climb and spring 
from bough to bough, and one of the most interesting among them 
is the chameck, or spider monkey {A teles pentadactylus). His 
lean body, long, thin limbs, and enormously elongated tail, to- 
gether with his pale, senile face, give him a most peculiar appear- 
ance. The face and ears of the chameck are bare, his flesh is of 
the color of copper, and he is covered with a long-haired coat of 
glossy black. The movements and positions which he takes, 
with the help of his long tail, are very curious. He swings by 
the tail and reaches out after fruit ; or while in this position the 
animal gives a swing that shoots him some distance to another 
bough. At times he sits by the hour motionless with his hands 
placed upon his back. It happens very often that death over- 
takes them in the midst of their pastime. Near by, on the very 
top of a dead tree, sits an eagle hawk watching for an oppor- 
tunity to swoop down upon his prey. He has had his eye 
on the chamecks for a long time, but has bided his chance. Now 



122 ANIMALS IN ACTION. 

he unfolds his wings slowly and flies noiselessly toward the 
unsuspecting aninials. One of them suddenly discovers the 
approach of the enemy, and sets up a loud screeching to awaken 
the others. With the greatest haste, but always with their long 
tails flung forward for use as a hand, they rush through the tree- 
tops in a scramble for safety. The distance between the pur- 
suer and the pursued grows shorter and shorter, and ever more 
hasty the flight of the monkey ; but gradually the strength of 
the frightened animals fails. In its confusion a chameck has 
missed its grasp upon a bough, and while it is preparing for a 
second spring the eagle hawk pounces upon his prey and bears 
it down upon the bough. With half-upraised wings and neck 
feathers bristling, the bird of prey kills his victim with a mighty 
blow of his beak and makes off with the booty. The chameck 
is a weak and harmless creature that depends only upon its 
swiftness for its safety. His assailant, on the other hand, is a 
powerful marauder, with strong claws, a powerful beak, and 
very swift in flight. The chameck uses his tail also as an organ 
of feeling. If his favorite food is placed behind the animal, it 
finds it by feeling with its tail ; he also draws eggs and young 
birds out of the hollows of trees with the same limb. It is not 
true, however, that these animals are in the habit of forming 
a living bridge by swinging from a tree on the banks of a river 
to another on the opposite side. The natives prize the flesh of 
the chameck above that of all other game, and use its skin for a 
variety of purposes. 




Chameck surprised by an Eagle Hawk. 



THE YAK. 1 25 



The Yak. 

THE most remarkable among the widely scattered rumi- 
nants is the ydi]^ {B OS g7i(n?iiejis\ an animal notable, in the 
first place, because of its peculiarly dignified appearance, 
and in the second place because it lives among the waste plains 
of Central Asia, high up in the snow belt, where the vegetation 
is so sparse that it is a wonder how so large an animal can find 
enough pasture to live upon. The yak is a powerful animal over 
eight feet in length, standing nearly five feet from the ground 
at the hump, and weighing as much as a heavy horse. Its body 
is thick-set, with a large and broad head provided with horns about 
two feet long, beneath which the eyes peep forth gentle and 
almost bashful. Behind its thick, bull neck rise the withers like 
a hump. The body is small across the shoulders and bulky in 
the middle, and the tail ends in a tuft of hair that almost touches 
the ground. The most pecuUar and characteristic feature of the 
beast is its thick coat of long black hair, mixed at times with 
white, which covers its entire body with the exception of the face 
and a small spot on its breast. The home of the yak is the 
wild and almost barren plains of Mongolia, China, Tartary, and 
Tibet, where the animal, moves about in great or small herds 
at a level of about five thousand feet above the sea. It has a won- 
derfully keen scent, but its sight is very poor, and it rushes about 
in mad flight when it has discovered the approach of the hunter. 
The old bulls of the herd often remain behind in a compact 



126 ANIMALS IN ACTION. 

body to cover the retreat of the females and the yoiin^^, and 
at such times the pursuer runs a great risk of being ground 
into a shapeless mass by the hoofs and horns of some wounded 
animal. If the hunter is lucky and has courage and a sure 
aim, he creeps upon the herd and despatches a single animal, 
trusting to chance and the direction of the wind to conceal 
his approach. The yak, which is so tenacious of life that it 
seldom falls dead at the first shot, has a peculiar habit of stand- 
ing stock still for a few seconds after the shot has been fired, 
and then beginning his onslaught, always staring fixedly at the 
hunter in the meanwhile. This pause furnishes the hunter with 
his opportunity, and yet he often finds it necessary to plunge 
seven or eight balls into the body of the animal before he can 
end its hardy life. The Mongolians hunt the yak with great 
zest, for its flesh is a delicacy with them, and they ascribe good 
luck to the possession of its head and blood. The native 
tribes also dispose of its horns at a good price to the passing 
caravans, while from the hairs on its rump and tail cords and 
strings of great resistance are manufactured. Tibet would be 
uninhabited were it not for the dung the animal furnishes in 
great quantities, which is the sole burning material of the hardy 
nomads who make that bleak and barren country their home. 




Yaks. 




Sea Eagle picking up an Ice Fox. 



THE SEA EAGLE. 131 



The Sea Eagle. 

THE sea eagle lives on all the coasts of Europe as well as 
in Siberia, Asia Minor, and in Egypt. He is a powerful, 
bold, and dangerous bird of prey, about three feet in 
length, measuring over eight feet from tip to tip of his wings, and 
with pale gray and yellowish brown plumage marked with alter- 
nate dark and Hght stripes and bands. Like the golden eagle he 
hunts all creatures that he can overcome, and is moreover a good 
fisherman, using his talons to the terror of all dwellers in the 
water. The armor of the hedgehog does not save that animal from 
the beak of the sea eagle, nor does the fox escape by means of its 
cunning or its sharp bite, nor the wild goose by its caution, nor 
the diving bird by its celerity in disappearing beneath the waves. 
The watchfulness of dogs and shepherds does not protect the 
lamb from the successful attacks of the sea eagle. All kinds 
of animals fall prey to the bold and persistent pirate. Even 
children, and, under certain circumstances, adults, have been 
seized by this rapacious bird. His chief article of diet, however, 
is fish, and his nest is, therefore, almost invariably near the sea- 
coast or in the immediate vicinity of some great inland body of 
water. He does not disdain even carrion, and in winter hovers 
above fish houses, butcher shops, and similar places, waiting for 
an opportunity to seize a waste morsel. In northern Russia 
and Siberia, when all the streams are ice-bound, the sea eagle 
is compelled to do his foraging entirely on land, and then some- 
times pounces upon an ice fox out of a pack of these animals. 
He sweeps high up into the air with his prey, and kills it in spite 
of the violent resistance which this Northern cousin of Reynard 
may offer. 



132 ANIMALS IN ACTION. 



The Dolphin and his Guests. 

THE common dolphin, or the sea pig, figures very promi- 
nently in the tales that have come down to us from ancient 
times about the great sea mammals belonging to the 
whale family. This animal is found in large numbers in the 
Atlantic Ocean and the seas connecting with it, from Greenland 
to Africa, as well as in the Pacific Ocean as far as the islands 
of Japan. It is difficult to understand how the ancient Greeks 
acquired the impression that this extremely greedy and rapa- 
cious beast was a friend of man. But he is at all events an 
interesting dweller of the sea. The dolphin attains an extreme 
length of ten feet. His head is small, with a wide, rounded-off 
snout, and his eyes are in a line with the fissure of his mouth. 
His skin is soft, smooth, and glossy, dark brown, with a green 
or violet shading on the sides and pure white underneath. 
Voyagers often see him following the ship, disporting himself 
playfully by leaping out of the waves and then plunging down 
head foremost. The dolphin finds it necessary to spring out of 
the water in this manner because he is a mammal, and must 
rise to the surface to breathe. Since, for the same reason, he 
must keep his head above water when he is seeking his food, 
he selects shallow waters, such as bays, fjords, and mouths of 
rivers, for his hunting-grounds. His hunger sometimes drives 
him so far shoreward in pursuit of fish that he is caught on the 
beach and often perishes before the return of the tide. The 




The Dolphin and his Guests. 



THE ORYX AND THE PAINTED HYENA. 135 

artist who produced the original of our picture observed a very- 
interesting spectacle. Some dolphins which were fishing and 
playing close to the shore were set upon by sea gulls. When- 
ever a dolphin appeared upon the surface with a captured fish, 
the gulls fearlessly swooped down upon him and . shared his 
meal with him as self-invited guests. Since gulls are able to 
capture only small fish, it seemed to them that it would be a 
good idea for them to help themselves to a part of the dolphin's 
big catch. Such an occurrence is seen frequently by fishermen. 
The dolphins seem to have entered into an understanding of 
some sort with the sea gulls, as the birds do not seem to show 
the slightest fear of the great sea mammals. 



The Oryx and the Painted Hyena or Hunting 

Dog. 

AMONG the stateliest and most remarkable species of the 
antelope of South and Central Africa is the oryx, which 
inhabits the most arid and desolate portions of the con- 
tinent. It is about seven feet long, including a tail fully a foot 
and a half in length. It is four feet tall at the withers, and has 
straight, swordlike horns three feet long. The color of the oryx 
is a uniform dark brown on the upper part of the body, and white 
underneath. Its coat consists of thick, smooth, and stiff hairs. 
In summer its neck, throat, back, and flanks are yellowish white 
or reddish, according to variety. There are several varieties of 
the oryx, and among them are the beisa {Oryx beisd) which 
lives in Nubia, the saber-antelope, in Central Africa, and, in the 
northern portion of the same region, lives still another variety 



136 ANIMALS IN ACTION. 

of the same subdivision. One variety is found in the arid plains 
where vegetation is so scarce that a grasshopper can hardly get 
a living. These animals wander about, not in herds, but rather 
in families. The bucks often desert their relatives after pairing 
time, and go on their travels alone, having little to fear, since 
they can cope successfully even with the panther and leopard 
when they bring their sharp horns into use. In spite of their 
strength, however, they are very timid, and so quick to scent 
danger and run away from it that they are very hard to capture. 
There is something of stateliness and dignity in these animals, 
whether they be in repose or in motion. Ordinarily they move 
slowly, but under the stress of danger they display wonderful 
speed. In spite of difficulties, however, they are sometimes 
killed by native hunters, and their young are taken alive and 
sold to collectors for'menageries and zoological gardens. Their 
chief enemy is the painted hyena {Lycao?i pictiis), a beast of 
prey which bears a close resemblance to the hyena. This 
animal, as our picture shows, hunts in packs, and so terrifies 
and confuses the oryx that it cannot defend itself long and is 
dragged down and torn to pieces by its hungry pursuers. But 
the end generally comes after some of its tormentors have been 
put to death by angry thrusts from the powerful horns of the 
desperate animal. 




An Oryx Antelope pursued by Painted Hyenas, or Dogs of the Desert. 




Ostrich on Nest. 



THE AFRICAN OSTRICH. 141 

The African Ostrich. 

THE African ostrich is the largest bird of modern times, and 
Hves in the lonely deserts of that continent. Although 
it is a harmless animal, its feathers make the ostrich so 
valuable an object for the zeal of the hunter, both civilized and 
barbarous, that it has been very nearly exterminated in some places 
or has withdrawn into the fastnesses of the desert. Eighty or 
ninety years ago large flocks of ostriches could be m^et with in the 
Cape lands of southern Africa. But now the bird has quite disap- 
peared from that part of Africa, and is to be seen there only very 
seldom. The persistent stealing of the nourishing and palatable 
ostrich eggs by the natives and settlers is partly responsible for 
the progress of this work of extermination. Where ostriches are 
more plentiful, they live in families consisting of one cock and 
three or four hens. The latter lay their eggs in the same hole 
scooped out in the ground, and take turns in hatching them, 
Even the cock must do his share of this work, and when not 
otherwise engaged scans the horizon carefully for signs of ap- 
proaching danger. Cock and hen vie in defending their eggs 
and their young against the marauders of the desert. By a curi- 
ous habit, the young birds, as soon as they have reached a suffi- 
cient age, attach themselves to wandering herds of antelopes 
and zebras, and these animals prize them highly for their sharp 
eyes and their watchfulness. Our illustration presents a truth- 
ful picture of the family Hfe of the ostrich. The young birds 
can be domesticated easily. This circumstance, together with 
the high price of ostrich feathers, has suggested to enterprising 
Englishmen and Americans the plan of raising ostriches in great 
flocks and plucking their feathers twice a year. This experi- 
ment has proved entirely successful, and many ostrich farms 
are in operation in South Africa and California. 



142 ANIMALS IN ACTION. 



Grizzly Bear attacked by a Buffalo. 

THE wild battle-scene portrayed in the accompanying pic- 
ture is taken from life in the broad prairies of northwestern 
America. Hungry *' Ephraim " — for thus have the 
hunters named the grizzly bear, a dangerous cousin of the com- 
mon brown bear — has fallen upon a young bison which has 
wandered away from the herd. The hungry monster is about to 
tear his prey, into whose body he has already dug his powerful 
fore claws. The agonized bellowing of the doomed animal has 
reached the herd which has been grazing at some distance away, 
and the old buffaloes are rushing upon the scene with over- 
whelming speed, in spite of their apparent awkwardness. At 
once the grizzly bear is attacked by the angry leaders. 
*' Ephraim " instantly realizes that he must give up his prey and 
defend himself with all his might. He is especially afraid of the 
foremost bull, who, with his colossal head lowered, his mouth 
covered with foam, and his tail raised in air, presents an impres- 
sive picture of unbridled strength and savagery. The battle can- 
not be greatly prolonged. According to trustworthy accounts a 
grizzly can overcome a single bison, but against a whole herd 
of these powerful creatures he is of little avail. Accordingly 
" Ephraim," who can run very fast, now either makes off at his 
best pace, or, remaining, is gored to death by the sea of horns 
that heaves about him. 




Grizzly Bear attacked by Buffaloes. 



A DIVER DEFENDING HIMSELF AGAINST SHARKS. 145 



A Diver defending himself against Sharks. 

MANKIND has ventured not only into the bowels of the 
earth, but has dared also to plunge to the bottom of the 
sea, and to encounter the manifold perils of the deep. 
The sponge fisher dives almost always without a diving suit, and 
can remain under water for nearly five minutes at a time. But 
Aristotle described an apparatus which, in his day, enabled its 
wearer to remain under water much longer than that. A modern 
diving outfit consists most frequently of a thick helmet fastened 
to the head. From this head-dress tubes proceed to the surface 
of the water, and through these "supply pipes" the air is pumped 
from the ship to the diver. When a ship has sprung a leak, or 
has sunk, it is often necessary, in order to estimate the value of 
the wreck and the possibility of raising it, to send a diver down to 
the bottom of the sea, equipped with an electric lamp. On the 
north Atlantic coast the diver has no enemy to fear, but in 
tropic seas he is exposed to many perils. Chief among these is 
the swordfish, which can inflict fatal wounds with the sword 
which protrudes from its head. It is said that divers have 
been cut in two by this strange weapon. Only less dangerous 
than the swordfish is " the hyena of the sea," the man-eating 
shark. 

Sometimes, when the diver is busily at work, he suddenly 
sees a great shadow stretching over the bottom of the sea, and 
glancing up, beholds to his horror the spindle-shaped body of 



146 ANIMALS IN ACTION. 

the man-eating shark. The head of this monster is flat, the 
snout is well thrust forward, and the broad mouth, starting from 
behind, is armed with sharp, triangular teeth. The scaly pirate 
has noted the diver, and draws near him. If the diver should 
lose his presence of mind, he would fall an easy prey to the 
greedy shark. But if he has his wits about him, he draws the 
dagger which he carries with him for such emergencies. 

With great agility the imperilled toiler avoids the rush of 
the beast, and at the opportune moment plunges his knife from 
underneath deep into the belly of the shark. A mighty stream 
of blood stains the water ; the powerful creature lashes the sea 
with his great fins, and, struggling in the throes of death, seeks 
safety in flight. But sometimes, as is shown in our picture, a 
second shark appears at this juncture, and the diver must battle 
for his life once more. Sometimes he is fortunate enough to 
come out a victor from the second conflict, but often enough he 
is terribly mangled by the hungry hunter of the sea. 




A Diver attacked by Man-eating Shark. 








Wood Owl capturing a Rat. 



THE WOOD OWL. 151 

The Wood Owl. 

THERE are many animals which man, out of prejudice or 
bUnd obedience to false tradition, has constantly aimed to 
exterminate, although they are useful to him in many 
ways. The wood owl, or cat owl, is among these victims of human 
ignorance, as is the tree owl, one of the most beautiful birds of 
the forest, which is a particular foe to destructive rodents. The 
shrinking nature of the owl and his unearthly nocturnal cry of 
" Hoot ! Hoot ! " have brought him into general disfavor. The 
intelligent woodsman and the professional sportsman take good 
care of the wood owl, an animal which they recognize as useful 
to mankind, but the indiscriminating pot-hunter and the igno- 
rant loafer pitilessly shoot down the inoffensive bird wherever 
they find it. The solitary and obscure habits of life which are 
so characteristic of the owl family, prove in themselves a pro- 
tection to the wood owl, for he seldom appears abroad in the 
daytime, but lies concealed in the hollow of a tree, or crouches 
within a thick bunch of foliage, a grave, thoughtful bird, who 
does not venture forth- in search of food until night or early 
morning. He then roves about the outskirts of the wood, in 
search of mice, which he seizes with great craft. The wood owl 
sweeps about in airy, curving flights, with moderate swiftness, 
above the ground, and so noiselessly that the mice do not hear him. 
As soon as he has spied a mouse, he swoops down upon it, seizes 
it with his beak and sharp talons, and bears it away. Some- 
times he even despoils a nest of its young, or pounces upon a hare, 
or plunders a trap of its catch. Such cases, however, are excep- 
tional. As a rule the wood owl watches, with wonderful patience, 
for field and wood mice, shrews and moles, and does fearful execu- 
tion among them, especially in the early part of the year, when he 
is teaching his two or three young ones how to seize their prey. 



152 ANIMALS IN ACTION. 



Albatrosses and Sea Gulls. 

ONE of the greatest birds of the sea is the powerful alba- 
tross, which is found in large numbers throughout an 
extended belt between the 30th and 40th parallels, south 
latitude. Occasional specimens, however, are found even at Cape 
Horn. The albatross measures from ten to fourteen feet from 
tip to tip of his outstretched wings, and is white, with the ex- 
ception of his jet-black wings. His most effective implement 
is his hooked beak, which is very strong and very sharp. Un- 
able to catch live fish, he devours everything that may be floating 
upon the surface of the sea, eats all the mollusks he can find, 
and does not disdain even carrion. Therefore, in common with 
the robber gulls of the sea-coast, he plays upon the sea the part 
which the vulture assumes on land — that of a scavenger. 

Our picture presents an interesting scene in the Pacific. Upon 
one of the islands in the Straits of Magellan, or on the coast of 
Chile, lies a seal, that has died, probably in consequence of 
wounds inflicted upon it by roving seal-hunters. The sharp eye 
of an albatross, peering down in search of a morsel of food, has 
discovered the dead animal. With a shrill cry of delight, the bird 
has darted upon its find. In an incredibly short space of time 
other albatrosses, of which there had been no sign till then, have 
flocked to the spot. Attracted by the cries and tumult, various 
kinds of gulls descend in clouds from their nests on many a 
cliff and crag, so that in the merest moment of time the place is 




Albatrosses and Gulls on the Body of a Seal. 



THE DESERT LYNX. 155 

covered with a swarm of the vultures of the sea, quarrelling over 
their food in noisy confusion. The gulls follow the albatross 
just as the crow follows the vulture, or the hyena the lion, in 
the hope of sharing in the feast. When a whale or a great ant- 
arctic seal, as in this case, has been stranded, the crowd of scav- 
enger birds that surround the banquet is large and noisy. 



The Desert Lynx. 

A BEAUTIFUL and crafty animal is the caracal, or desert 
lynx, which is common to portions of northern Africa 
and southwestern Asia. It is nearly twenty-six inches 
long, with a tail ten inches in length ; its form is leaner and 
its legs longer than those of the northern lynx, which is com- 
monly found in certain portions of North America. Its swift- 
ness and audacity are also greater than those of its cousin. Its 
drab color, running into a shade of brown, identifies the desert 
lynx at once as an inhabitant of the desert. Indeed, he is to 
be found in all the desert plains of Asia, India, and Africa, and 
feeds upon the other creatures of the arid expanses. Occa- 
sionally he waylays young antelopes, which he overcomes 
without great exertion. But it happens sometimes that he 
cannot enjoy his booty in peace; for the bold and tenacious 
jackal is at hand to get his share of the prey. This hungry 
beast is the most shameless and persistent thief of them all. 
Nothing is safe from his enterprise. He even follows other 
beasts of prey and literally snatches the booty out of their mouths. 
The fact that because of this habit of theirs many of the bold 
fellows lose their lives, and others suffer serious injuries, does not 
deter the rest from following in the same course. A highway 
robbery of this sort, which took place in a Nubian desert, is 



156 ANIMALS IN ACTION. 

presented in our picture. As a rule the jackals fare badly at the 
hands of the lynx ; for while the latter is not the greater or the 
stronger of the two, he is at all events the bolder and more sav- 
age. Brehm says that a captive caracal fell upon a fierce dog that 
was placed in his cage, and overcame him in a short time in spite 
of the desperate resistance of the newcomer. No zoological 
garden or menagerie has ever succeeded in taming the desert 
lynx. Even the Arabs of the Soudan avoid him whenever they 
can. The animal in our picture has been aroused to a fury of 
rage by the persistence of the jackals, and so, with long, bushy 
ears laid low, with lips drawn back, showing a set of sharp, 
vicious teeth, and one sharp claw raised, he stands ready to bite 
or to strike as the occasion may demand. Some of the jackals 
have already felt the temper of his weapons, but they still stand 
about him howling and waiting until he shall have satisfied his 
hunger and shall leave the remainder of his meal to the persist- 
ent beggars. 



:^^l^^^-,:. 




Carakal, or Desert Lynx, defending his Booty against Jackals. 



OCELOT AND NIGHT MONKEY. 159 



Ocelot and Night Monkey. 

CATS, in the narrow sense of the word, are all the smaller 
varieties of the numerous species that resembles Puss. A 
distant cousin of our house cat is the ocelot, which ranges 
from Texas to South America. In bodily measurements this 
animal is like the lynx, but is not quite so tall. Its thick coat of 
fur is beautifully marked, the main coloring being a brownish 
gray or a reddish gray, shading into a light yellow under- 
neath. The female is not quite so prominently marked as the 
male. The ocelot lives in impenetrable forests, where he 
spends most of the day asleep, curled up like our own domestic 
pet ; but he does not have any particular place to which he 
returns from his wanderings. Toward evening he becomes 
restless, deserts his lodging-place, and stays out all night. The 
ocelot commits heavy ravages among the game, and when 
satiated with flesh sucks the blood of his victim. He never 
misses an opportunity to do some hunting, whether he be 
hungry or not. During dark and stormy nights he creeps 
up to settlements and villages, looking for a chance to culti- 
vate a close acquaintance with the occupants of the hen-roosts. 
He regards the monkeys as a special delicacy of his table, and 
our illustration shows an ocelot which has fallen upon a 
band of night monkeys in a forest of Brazil. These mon- 
keys are among the most remarkable of their kind. They 
are peculiarly marked creatures, with three black stripes run- 



i6o ANIMALS IN ACTION. 

ning down the skull, and a wide, bright yellow stripe descend- 
ing from the neck to the root of the tail. The night monkey 
spends his days sleeping in the tree-tops or in the hollows of 
trunks. With the approach of evening he becomes wakeful. 
As daylight fades the pupils of his eyes enlarge, his eyes light 
up like those of a cat or an owl, and with the growing twiHght 
he begins to search for food. The night monkeys climb wonder- 
fully well and spring from tree to tree with the greatest facility 
in their chase of insects or their flight from danger. The ocelot, 
however, creeps upon them so slyly that generally the shriek of 
a captured animal is the first indication of the presence of the 
dreaded marauder. 



" Who Stops to Choose Waits to Lose." 

IT is lonely and still in the depths of the great forest. Seldom 
does a jarring sound break the silence. The wind stirs a dry 
twig, which suddenly rustles down upon the ground. A 
woodpecker hammers on the oak, or the hoarse scream of some 
bird of prey echoes far up in the blue sky. Then all is still 
again, and only the light breathing of the forest is to be heard. 
And yet there is no lack of life, and even of tragedy or of 
silent laughter, in the woodland. Reynard the Robber springs 
suddenly out of the thicket and breaks upon the morning 
trysting-place of two hares. One of the frightened little ani- 
mals jumps to the right and the other to the left, while the fox 
triumphantly raises his bushy tail in the air like a victorious 
standard. Upon which of the two shall he fling himself.'' 
Master Reynard hesitates, pondering upon the great question. 
Who stops to choose waits to lose ! The rule applies in a 




Night Monkey surprised by an Ocelot. 



HAMSTER AND POLECAT. 163 

hare-hunt as it does in other experiences of Hfe. The heart of 
man often falls into perplexities and fails of its ends through 
the sheer force of its own fierce desire. The hares in our 
picture are apparently making the best of the brief opportunity 
for escape which has offered itself to them, and Reynard has 
lost because he has stopped to choose. The artist who pro- 
duced the picture has succeeded in depicting in a lifelike 
fashion this strategic moment in nature. The hares are evi- 
dently masters of the situation, and their rapid flight will save 
them from the hungry mouth of the fox. 



Hamster and Polecat. 

THE favorite haunts of the hamster, a busy little gnawer of 
the mouse family, are in the corn-fields of Europe and 
Asia. There the little fellows build underground dwell- 
ings of many chambers, in which they store the provisions which 
they collect in autumn. When the hamster is about to leave his 
home, he first carefully peers about on all sides to assure himself 
that there is no danger. After his head has become visible, a fat, 
yellowish brown body with short legs makes its appearance. 
The animal sits on its hind legs, and raises its fore body. Then 
it begins to clean itself, for cleanliness is one of its chief char- 
acteristics ; after that it proceeds about its business of gathering 
corn and carrying it home in its cheek pouches. The hamster 
also eats worms, insects, lizards, snakes, or even a young bird 
or a mouse now and then. Let us observe him as he comes to 
the edge of the forest. Suddenly he stops, raises his head, and 
appears for a second to be deliberating whether it is wiser to 
run away or to stand his ground and meet the shock of the 



i64 ANIMALS IN ACTION. 

enemy. Although he is a small animal, he is by no means a 
coward, for he has even been known to attack a man and to set 
a row of very sharp teeth into his leg. In the present instance 
he has evidently made up his mind that he will not retreat 
before the enemy, for he suddenly assumes a defensive attitude, 
snarling and foaming, prepared to defend himself with teeth or 
claws. Very soon the polecat makes his appearance and springs 
right and left in an attempt to take the hamster unawares, but 
the hamster keeps his weapons constantly in the face of the 
enemy. But weariness begins to show its effect on the little 
defender. The polecat springs at its throat and kills it despite 
the sharp claws. The successful hunter then carries his prey 
home and stores it in his larder. These decaying animals do 
not furnish a pleasant addition to the undesirable odor which 
the polecat himself gives out. The hamster is fatal to agricul- 
ture. The male and the female dwell apart, and each gathers 
a separate store between them, working a fearful depredation 
among the corn-fields. The farmer has really therefore to 
thank the polecat for its aid in the work of exterminating this 
pest. But the polecat, on his part, has some very disagreeable 
habits. In addition to his occasional raids upon the hen-coop 
and the dove-cote, he is not a pleasant neighbor because of his 
nauseating smell. Moreover, he is a malicious animal, and is 
very easily aroused to anger. He is very tenacious of life, and 
often surprises the hunter by resuming his activities after being 
taken for dead. 




Polecat attacking a Hamster. 



THE SPECTRAL TARSIER. 167 



The Spectral Tarsier hunting Drosera. 

THE natives of Sumatra regard the tarsier or koboldmaki 
much as some other ignorant people of the Old World 
regard the toad and the lizard. A scientist has called the 
tarsier the toad among the mammals. The appearance of this 
strange fellow is something like that of the tree toad. Its hands 
and feet, and also certain movements of its body, are suggestive 
of the little green climber of our own acquaintance. The tarsier 
is, however, much larger than the toad, the full-grown animal 
attaining a length of from six to seven inches. The tarsier 
inhabits the impenetrable forests of the Asiatic islands, westward 
as far as Malacca. He is an insectivorous and vegetarian animal, 
and his odd appearance solely is responsible for the bad repute 
in which he is held among the misinformed. The spectral tar- 
sier has a head that is very nearly round, and his short snout 
protrudes beyond the face, somewhat like that of the frog or 
the toad. The broad opening of his mouth, extending along 
under the great owllike eyes, adds to the toadUke appearance 
of his head. The fore legs of the tarsier are quite as remark- 
able for their shortness as his hind legs are for their length. 
His fingers and toes are bare and have great cushioned balls 
at the end. His tail is longer than the whole of the rest of 
his body, and, like it, is thickly covered with yellow, brownish 
gray, slightly red, soft hair, shading into a dirty white on the 
breast. In the daytime the tarsier remains in concealment in 



i68 ANIMALS IN ACTION. 

dark, moist places in the forest, in the thick foliage or among 
the tangled roots of trees. At night he saUies forth for food. 
His way of sitting and jumping reminds one very much of 
the tree frog. The natives of Sumatra believe that the tarsier 
is an enchanted creature, that within him dwells the soul of 
an evil-doer, and that the sight of him is an extremely un- 
lucky and untoward event. Scientists who have caught many 
of these harmless little animals with no other implement than 
their hands, have found them very amusing and easily trained. 
Our picture shows a pair of these animals, in the forest of 
East India, searching for one of the tubular insect-catching 
plants, mostly of the order of Nepenthaceae {Dioncea or Drosera 
they are called), which are to be found there in great numbers. 
These curious plants have long tubes or hollows, four or six 
inches in length, in which honey-sucking insects by the hundreds 
become entangled and caught. The edge of the mouth, which 
is furnished with sharp teeth, rolls inward upon the honey- 
seekers, which are thus prevented from escaping and die in 
their prison. The ghost-animals are aware of the cruel habits 
of this plant, and take advantage of their knowledge by secur- 
ing the well-stocked tubes and devouring them. In addition, 
the tarsier eats bananas and other fruits, of which the tropical 
forest yields an abundance. 




Spectral Tarsier hunting Insectivorous Plants. 



THE AOUDAD. 171 



The Aoudad. 

OUR domestic sheep is manifestly a variety of the more 
powerful and the larger wild sheep, cultivated through 
thousands of years of breeding. The original stock is 
now very hard to determine, since, with the exception of Austra- 
lia, each part of the earth has one or more characteristic varieties 
of wild sheep, all resembHng the domestic sheep in their general 
features, but differing from it in others. Thus Europe has the 
moufflon, Asia the argali and caprovis polii, America the big- 
horn, and Africa the aoudad, a fat and robust animal standing 
three feet and over high at the shoulder, and near three feet and 
eight inches long, including a tail over ten inches. The male is 
somewhat more compactly built, and has larger and more power- 
ful horns than the female. The head of the aoudad is hand- 
somer and his glance more timid and sharper than that of our 
sheep. The color of the creature is a pale reddish brown, 
shading into a chestnut, dark brown, or yellow in parts. The 
fleece of the aoudad, unlike that of the sheep, is perfectly 
smooth. It consists of thick, coarse hair, beneath which a 
layer of fine wool lines the body compactly. He has a mane 
which grows long from underneath the upper part of the neck, 
and falls over the fore legs in a thick fold which almost sweeps 
the ground. This constitutes one of the distinguishing marks 
of the animal. The aoudad is a mountaineer and its home is 
in upper Egypt and Abyssinia, but especially among the Atlas 



172 ANIMALS IN ACTION. 

Mountains and other North African ranges. The species is 
very rare, and its great timidity makes it very difficult to capture. 
It lives upon mountain plants, undergrowth, and dry grass, 
which grows but sparingly in the inaccessible and rugged cUffs 
amidst which the animal wanders in search of pasture. The 
aoudads live alone or in isolated pairs as a rule, but little herds 
come together during the pairing season in November. At 
these times, owing to the excess of males, bitter and long-con- 
tinued fights are fought for the choice of a mate. Very often, 
after a fierce battle, the victor forces his less fortunate antagonist 
over the nearest precipice, and calmly proceeds to take pos- 
session of the spoils of war. The Algerian Bedouins hunt the 
aoudad with great zest on account of its flesh and hide. The 
animal first became known to Europeans in the second half of 
the sixteenth century. 



The Sparrow Owl catches a Squirrel. 

THE day owls, apart from their mode of living, as indicated 
in their name, differ outwardly from the night owls in that 
their head and body are smaller than those of the latter. 
The sparrow owl, with his rich display of gray, white-banded 
plumage, with long and rather tapering feathers, is a beautiful 
and noticeable bird. It is seventeen inches long and measures 
nearly two feet eight inches from tip to tip of its outstretched 
wings. The northern countries of the Old World are his home, 
and he prefers to flock in the birch forests of Scandinavia, north- 
ern Russia, and Siberia. The heavy snowfalls sometimes com- 
pel the sparrow owls to migrate to more southern latitudes. 
Occasionally they are to be seen in the north of Germany and 
in eastern and western Prussia. They hunt by day, mostly for 









-^t 



Hunting the Aoudad in the Auras Mountains. 




Sparrow Owl capturing a Squirrel. 



THE HYENA AND THE ZEBRA. 177 

lemmings, but even squirrels and birds of considerable size have 
been known to succumb to their attacks. Our picture shows a 
sparrow owl who has just made a good catch. The illustration 
reproduces an actual occurrence, and is lifelike in its presenta- 
tion of the flight of the owl, which has driven its talons into the 
back of a pretty squirrel. 



The Hyena and the Zebra. 

ONE of the most characteristic species of the dog family, 
which is scattered all over the earth, is the hyena of 
South Africa. It is about as large as a small wolf, with 
a slender, smooth body, and is very swift, cunning, and rapacious. 
The general colors of the skin are white, black, and ochre-yellow ; 
but as with our domestic dogs, so with his wild relatives, there 
are no two exactly alike. The hyena, which is found in great 
numbers in Cape Colony, in East and West Africa, and in 
Abyssinia, hunts in packs of about sixty, and pursues wild 
animals with such speed and endurance that it overtakes the 
swiftest antelope. Not content with its execution among wild 
animals, the hyena works great devastation among the cattle of 
the South African farms. The hyenas have such a lust for 
destruction that so long as there is any living animal in sight, 
they do not think of eating their prey, but continue the kiUing 
tirelessly. In spite of its disagreeable habits, the hyena is a 
most interesting animal to observe, and a pack of them on the 
chase is a fine spectacle. Their common prey is the sturdy 
zebra, which is to be found in all the mountainous regions of 
South and East Africa. The strong, watchful, and speedy 
zebra scents his bloodthirsty enemy from afar, and flees over 
the grassy plain with all speed. After him storms the pack of 



178 , ANIMALS IN ACTION. 

hyenas, snarling, howling, and whining in an indescribable pan- 
demonium of sound. When the foremost of the pursuers 
becomes exhausted with the race, he surrenders the lead to tlie 
animals immediately behind, which have been better able to 
save their strength. First one and then another of the blood- 
thirsty pack falls yelping to the ground, crushed by a blow from 
two powerful hoofs ; but eventually one of the older and more 
experienced hyenas succeeds in fastening itself, as shown in 
the picture, upon the neck of the fleeing animal, and the next 
moment the zebra is struggling upon the ground. Howling with 
joy at their victory, the hyenas fall upon their prey, tear it to 
pieces, and crowd about the carcass, yelping, snapping, and 
growling, an ugly, loathsome mass. 




Hyena Dogs tearing up a Zebra. 



THE OPOSSUM AND THE EARTH SQUIRREL. i8i 



The Opossum and the Earth Squirrel, or 
Chipmunk. 

THE opossum (which wears the scientific name of Didelphys 
virginiana) is a native of the American forests, and is 
vigorously hunted. To the uninitiated its ugly, ratlike 
form, with its coarse, Hght gray pelt and long, hairless tail, is alto- 
gether repulsive. The animal has also a smeU that suggests 
garlic very strongly, and is a decidedly unwelcome visitor to the 
hen-roosts. The opossum lives in isolation and makes its appear- 
ance at night, when it proceeds to seize all the bird^ ?nd birds' 
eggs that it can get. In winter it is seen just after sundown, 
tripping over the snow with its sharp nose close to the ground, 
carefully following the tracks of a hare, and from time to time 
rising on its hind legs and scanning the moonlit landscape. At 
a point where the hare has made a long jump the opossum halts 
in confusion, having apparently lost the scent. But some equally 
desirable prey is evidently near at hand, for Master 'Possum 
makes a stop at the base of a big tree close at hand. For some 
minutes he examines the ground very closely, circling about the 
thick trunk, and sniffing the surface of the snow. Suddenly he 
discovers a cavity between the roots, plunges into it quickly, and 
presently reappears with a strangled chipmunk in his mouth. 

The victim belongs to the squirrel family, but its feet and legs 
are shorter than those of the common squirrel, and the scantily 
haired tail is a trifle shorter than the body. Running down its back 



i82 ANIMALS IN ACTION. 

are long light stripes. The American chipmunk hides among 
the roots of the trees, underground, where it lies dormant during 
the winter, but the sleep of the animal which Master 'Possum has 
just captured has not been sound enough to prevent the little 
beast from defending itself with its sharp teeth, and the opossum 
bears traces of the struggle in the form of a bleeding wound 
behind one of its ears. After it has captured its dinner, the 
opossum eagerly scrambles to one of the boughs of the tree. 
Curling its tail about a branch for security, and holding its prey 
fast with its fore legs, the animal proceeds with its meal in 
peace and comfort. 

At other times it manages to make its way into the poultry- 
yard, kills a fowl and carries it off, or else sucks out the contents 
of one newly laid egg after another, quite undismayed by the 
outcry of the hens. When the opossum finds escape impossible, 
it curls up with every appearance of being absolutely dead, and 
the greatest torture cannot compel it to throw off its disguise. 
Under these circumstances it is often left for dead, but when 
the danger is past, it resumes its normal appearance of health, 
and trots off as fast as it can. The opossum is a marsupial, or 
pouched animal. At birth its young are very small and help- 
less, and they remain in the mother's pouch until they are able to 
get about and provide for themselves. The love of the mother 
opossum for her young is very strong, and no amount of suffering 
is great enough to compel her to open the pouch and disclose 
the little treasures that lie concealed there. The flesh of the 
opossum is sometimes too strong for the palate of the white man, 
but the negroes reUsh it as a rare delicacy. 




Opossum catching a Squirrel, 



FIGHTING SEA-LIONS. 185 



Fighting Sea-lions. 

NOBODY has been able to discover exactly how the plump 
and awkward coast-dwellers which are known as sea- 
lions acquired their high-sounding name. One can hardly 
conceive a greater contrast than is to be found between these 
mammals and the graceful stags ; yet the two have some disagree- 
able characteristics in common. Both fight bitterly, and often to 
the death, for the possession of the same privileges ; and the 
sea-lion, like the stag, has to win his bride only by passing over 
the prostrate body of his foe. The vanquished is left to bleed 
his life away while the animal which is victorious by virtue of 
his greater strength succeeds to all the rights of the stronger. 
How clumsy the sea-lions appear in their fierce battle, as they 
go lumbering about in their fight for supremacy, with their lives 
as the stake of victory or defeat ! This lowly family of mam- 
mals lives upon the ragged cliffs of the northern Pacific coast, 
and on the shores of Bering Strait, in the neighborhood of the 
nests of gulls and other sea fowl. The fighters in the battle 
shown in our picture are over sixteen feet long and weigh about 
one thousand pounds each. The female, for the favor of which 
they are struggHng, is hardly more than half that size. The 
greenish gold shimmering, short-haired coat of the sea-lion is 
considered a rare prize, and the animal that wears it is nunted 
eagerly. His pelt is used for upholstery and the manufacture 
of soft shoes, while a superior variety of cord is made from the 



i86 ANIMALS IN ACTION. 

entrails, and his fat is useful for many purposes. The natives 
esteem his flesh as a delicacy. Some idea of the rapid increase 
of this animal may be obtained from the knowledge that about 
eight hundred of them are captured annually upon the island of 
St. Paul alone. 



Mother Bear bathing her Cubs. 

THE she-bear gives birth, ordinarily in the second half of 
January, to one or two cubs, which remain blind for the 
first month of their life. When they are about three 
months old they are taken with their elders upon their travels in 
search of food, and during this probationary period the funny little 
fellows are subjected to a most rigid course of training. For 
naughtiness or carelessness they are punished with a box on the 
ear, and are taught how to climb trees — an exercise at which 
Master Bruin at first is often very funny. He is even funnier 
when he is descending from a tree backward. In fright he digs 
all his toes into the bark and has to be helped down by his elders. 
As our picture suggests, bears are very careful to keep their off- 
spring in a state of thorough cleanliness. The artist has selected 
for his sketch the moment when a mother bear has plunged her 
frightened and howling offspring into a mountain brook and 
holds it there, while the second cub looks on, evidently pleased 
at having already undergone his share of the ordeal. Bear cubs 
at the age of five or six months are the most amusing creatures 
imaginable. They are playful, and gambol about like merry 
children, dealing each other playful blows. But, unhappily, in 
the second half-year of their lives they acquire the crabbed 
temper of their parents, and are much to be feared on account 
of their strength and their bad disposition. 






^Ss 



Sea-lions in Battle. 




Brov/n Bear washing its Young. 



TIGER WITH BOOTY. 191 



Tiger with Booty. 

FIERCEST and most dreaded of all the cat tribe, the tiger 
combines beauty with cruelty, strength with rapacity, and 
boldness with craft. If audacity and fierceness comprise 
royalty, then the tiger rather than the lion should be the king of 
beasts ; he terrorizes all the other animals, and is shunned and 
feared by all ; he is a hunter, a prowler, swift of foot, sure of eye, 
and great at ambushing and stalking. If the tiger has any prefer- 
ences in regard to food, it is for the deer or wild boar ; but, when 
hungry, he will eat anything eatable from grasshoppers to 
crocodiles. 

In the picture here presented we see the tiger carrying away 
the booty he has cornered and captured ; in this case, it is a 
dish of his favorite food — antelope. 

In this case he has taken his prey as is his custom — not by 
steadily crawling and one great bound — but by swift surprise 
and rapid leaps ; with a furious blow of his paw he has maimed 
the muscles of the antelope's hind legs, thus making it impos- 
sible for it to run, and then, lifting his game bodily in his power- 
ful jaws, he bears it off to eat it in security and at leisure. The 
eating capacity of a tiger is sixty pounds, so if his game exceeds 
that weight, he takes what he desires, drinking frequently and 
then going to sleep ; later, when quite ready, he returns to his 
meal, if, meantime, the robbers and beggars of the forest have 
not stolen the banquet from the king's table. 



192 ANIMALS IN ACTION. 

The tiger is not really brave so much as he is bold. He hunts 
like a cat, and like a cat turns tail unless surprised or cornered. 
From a brave man he always runs if not brought to bay ; but 
as man is his most easily conquered prey when really taken at 
disadvantage, so the tiger adds to his cunning a bold and impu- 
dent audacity that seems almost bravery. There are cases in 
which a tiger has even leaped to the back of an elephant to 
attack the rider or hunter ; and there are also tigers which have 
terrorized whole districts by their fierceness and have carried off 
scores of human victims. 

On the other hand, however, the tiger rarely troubles men un- 
less driven to bay, and it is even held that in India, at least, 
this striped monarch of the jungle has done more good than 
harm — killing the worn-out old cows, who if they lived would 
have bred the cattle plague, destroying the boar and deer 
which are the pests of farmers and harvesters, and guarding the 
farm from invasion so zealously that sometimes the natives have 
been known to grumble when one was killed, and say, as they 
stood above the great dead cat, " He never did us any harm ; 
what a pity he is dead." 



Giraffes at a Lagoon. 

WHILE on his royal rambles through his realm the king 
of the desert often turns to the swamps and pools, 
where he crouches in the tall grass awaiting the ap- 
proach of the thirsty giraffe. Indeed, the Hon has been taught 
by experience that the spot which he has chosen for his hunting 
vigils is admirably suited for his purpose, for the giraffe cannot 
abstain from water for any considerable length of time, and is 
bound to make his way sooner or later, and generally with great 







Giraffes in the Lagoon. 



GIRAFFES AT A LAGOON. 



197 



frequency, to the nearest lake or stream, or, lacking such larger 
supply, to the most available pool. In every other respect the 
giraffe is almost as hardy as the camel. The animal makes a very 
grotesque appearance, with the apparent disproportion between 
its long fore legs and the short hind ones, and its long-stretched 
neck with a small head perched at the end of it. But its peculiar 
shape is very well adapted to its surroundings and harmonizes 
entirely with its habits of life. No lover of beauty can fail to 
be impressed when he sees this singular creature beneath the 
picturesque drooping palm of Central Africa ; for the full-grown 
male giraffe reaches a height of eighteen to twenty feet, 
its color is a pale yellow with beautiful brown spots, and it is 
able to thrust its head among the topmost branches. Indeed, 
Baker, the learned traveller, pronounces the giraffe one of the 
most beautiful animals. It is very intelligent, and its faculties 
of sight and hearing are highly developed. As a rule it is good- 
tempered and peaceful, and only when it finds itself or its 
young threatened by an approaching foe does it resort to 
violence ; at such times it defends itself fiercely. Strangely 
enough, it does not employ its short and stumpy horns for pur- 
poses of self-defence. They are apparently only ornamental 
in their design. It uses its long, thick, and bony fore legs, 
however, to very good effect as weapons of defence, and often 
succeeds in inflicting so heavy a blow with them that even the 
crocodile, which has approached its young with an evil purpose, 
is driven away, as in our picture, and sometimes it has even put 
the lordly lion to flight. The king of the desert therefore finds 
it safer to lie in wait amid the lush vegetation on the shore of a 
lagoon, and from that covert to spring upon his victim from 
behind and grasp it by the neck. Both natives and settlers 
hunt the giraffe with great zest. In captivity the animal 
sickens and soon dies from the lack of exercise and proper food. 



ANIMALS IN ACTION. 



The Fossa. 

A WONDERFUL and quite unique animal world is that of 
the island of Madagascar. Despite the proximity of the 
island to the African continent, its fauna is not at all re- 
lated to that of Central Africa. Particularly characteristic are its 
apes and some of its remarkable rodents, but other of its animal 
classes present highly interesting forms. Among its noteworthy 
beasts of prey is the fossa, a picture of which may be seen on our 
drawing. This animal (a sort of weasel-cat or cat-weasel) lives 
in southern Madagascar, especially in the interior. At a super- 
ficial glance it looks very much like a pure cat, and yet it has a 
somewhat more extended skull. It has a long body, crouching 
legs, and a prolonged purr, just like those of a cat. The entire 
structure of its body suggests suppleness and agility. It has a 
stubby snout, wide ears, and medium-sized eyes, and its slender 
body ends in a long, catlike tail. Its short legs are very power- 
ful, and each of the five toes at the end of its feet is armed with 
a sharp claw that can be withdrawn and concealed completely 
at the pleasure of the animal. Its short, fine, and somewhat 
frizzled hair is brown, varied with stripes of a straw color. In 
length of body the animal averages nearly three feet, not includ- 
ing a tail of over two feet long. The fossa is noted for its 
great ferocity. Telfair, who first saw it in captivity, says that 
however graceful and sleek the animal may appear, it is, in 
proportion to its size, the most savage among the beasts of 







•^^»s» 





Fossas capturing a Fowl. 



ANT-BEARS IN A QUARREL. 201 

prey. At present little is known of its life in a natural state. It 
lives chiefly upon small mammals and little birds, and makes fre- 
quent raids upon the poultry-yards of the inhabitants. When the 
fossa is caught in the act of robbery by the aggrieved farmer, 
and finds all avenues of escape closed, he is likely to turn 
and defend himself with his sharp-pointed teeth and to inflict 
grievous wounds upon his assailant, who is sometimes compelled 
to beat a hasty retreat. 



Ant-bears in a Quarrel. 

THE ant-bear, which the Paraguayans call " Yurumi," and 
the Brazilians "Tamandu," belongs to the Endentata 
order of animals (toothless), and his external appear- 
ance is most peculiar. His long, narrow head ends in a blunt 
snout. His tongue, composed of two muscles and two glandu- 
lar bodies, is about one-third of an inch in thickness, and the 
yurumi can protrude it almost twenty inches from his mouth. 
With his sharp-clawed fore paws the ant-bear scratches into the 
ant-hills, thrusts his long, swaying, and sticky tongue among 
the struggling little people, and draws it back into his mouth 
heavily laden with insects. 

The long, hairy tail of the ant-bear is like a waving standard. 
It is in harmony with his pleasing color, a blended shading of 
gray, brown, and hght yellow, and contributes something in the 
way of beauty to the animal, which is otherwise positively ugly. 

The yurumi is to be found in all parts of South America ; 
but the uninhabited sections of Paraguay are his special haunts. 
Here he goes hunting for ants and termites by day as well as 
by night. He is a peace-loving, rather unsociable creature, and 



202 ANIMALS IN ACTION. 

when frightened or molested seeks flight at a lumbering trot, 
covering the ground so slowly that a man can overtake him at 
a brisk walk. When hard pressed or driven into a corner he 
turns in self-defence, and his sharp-clawed fore legs are weapons 
dangerous to man or beast. Ordinarily, however, he takes 
pains to avoid controversy. For the most part, the ant-bear is 
alone on his wanderings. At the most the hunter meets the 
mother and her young together. 

That even among the animals that are otherwise so peaceful 
the mating time puts an end to indifference, is indicated in our 
illustration, in which apparently two amorous males have come 
to blows, and both are fighting out their battle with fierce 
embraces and heavy blows of their claws. 



A Prairie Scene in Winter. 

THE northern blast is roaring over the snow-covered 
prairie, catching the snowdrifts and whirling them hither 
and thither, until land and air appear as if they were 
mingled together in a confused mass. The blizzard is beating 
pitilessly upon a herd of Indian ponies, a remnant, perhaps, of 
those wild thousands that roamed the prairies before the species 
was practically exterminated by the settler and the Indian. At 
some distance from the little troop, and apparently following it, is 
a straggler, evidently sick or otherwise disabled. Presently a 
long-drawn, blood-red streak appears in the west, upon the line 
where the leaden sky presses down to touch the sombre earth. 
For a brief time a dull, red glow lowers upon the surface of the 
snow, and then the lamp of day sinks to rest beyond the snow- 
laden clouds. In the meanwhile the troop of horses is cantering 






m 




Ant-eaters in Battle. 



A PRAIRIE SCENE IN WINTER. 207 

toward a little depression for shelter. Suddenly it halts. The 
animals stamp upon the ground so that a hollow echo resounds ; 
then they turn about in a circle, tearing up the snow with their 
hoofs. The cause for their alarm is too evident. Out of the 
woods breaks a great pack of black wolves, surrounding the horses 
in a grandly closing semicircle. Hunger has driven the shaggy, 
lean fellows together to hunt in a pack. Gradually the half- 
circle of angry forms draws closer upon the little troop, the mem- 
bers of which, with heads together and Hind quarters toward the 
outer edge of the circle, brace themselves for the attack. Driven 
by the craving of hunger, some of the foremost wolves fling them- 
selves at once upon the horses, but are struck by powerful hoofs 
and flung back headlong. The wolves continue the attack, only 
to be repulsed again and again, until the snow is stained with 
blood and with the saliva that drips from the throbbing mouths 
of the beasts. Presently the pack pauses, watching for a weak 
spot at which to break into the troop. In the meanwhile, right 
deftly must the wolves dodge to avoid the flying hoofs. Finally 
some wolf, bolder and more watchful than the rest, succeeds in 
breaking through the circle and pouncing upon a horse. In a 
twinkhng a plunging, snapping mass of wolves has fastened 
itself upon the animal. The other horses disperse at once, only 
to form again in a compact mass, with the old white horse at 
their head, continuing their flight over the prairie and soon 
disappearing in the gathering darkness. But some of the 
wolves follow with fatal swiftness, their noses to the earth, hke 
bloodhounds on the trail. Gradually the pursuers close up to 
their prey, to continue the attack and conclude their repast. 



2o8 ANIMALS IN ACTION. 



Wart Hogs. 

THE wart hog (known to science as PhacochceriLS cethiopicus) 
easily takes the prize for ugHness among all his numerous 
kin. Upon the ridge of a cylindrical and wide body, cov- 
ered with scant hairs, is a long mane, like a comb of stiff bristles. 
Its legs are fairly long and thick, and its short tail ends in a tuft 
of bristles. Small, pointed ears and prominent wicked eyes are 
placed upon a monstrous head, which is almost a third as long 
as the rest of the body. The snout of the wart hog ends in a 
sensitive disk in which are placed the nostrils, while below the 
eyes protrude two great wartlike projections, almost as large as 
the ears of the animal, and just behind the snout are two smaller 
warts. Its pointed tusks are well adapted for cutting, and pro- 
ject about ten inches from the mouth. The home of this unlovely 
beast is in the jungles of southern and eastern Africa, and there 
are two varieties of it which cannot be always distinguished at 
first glance. They live in herds throughout the swampy countries, 
and the southern variety likes to burrow in earth holes. The 
northern wart hog digs passages under the earth which, oddly 
enough, he enters backward. Both varieties live chiefly upon 
roots which they dig up with their powerful tushes. While they 
are doing this, they kneel on their fore legs and push themselves 
forward with the hind quarter. It is to this habit that they owe 
the callous places on their fore legs. The natives are said to 
stand in great fear of them, as the hogs, tumbling out of their 




Wart Hogs in Battle. 



WART HOGS. 211 

holes with lightning speed, will rush upon the hunter and rip 
him open when they discover that flight is impossible. Among 
themselves the wart hogs are peaceable enough, but at mating 
time the old boar never tolerates a rival. At these times there 
are desperate battles between the fully matured hogs and the 
leader of the herd. The combatants line up, with eyes glittering 
wickedly and mouths frothing in fury. They, rush upon each 
other with loud and angry grunts, and each tries to inflict a dan- 
gerous wound upon his rival, while skilfully parrying attack, 
until one or the other is killed. The first wart hog was brought 
to Europe in 1765, for the private menagerie of the Prince of 
Orange, at The Hague. It seemed to be tame enough, but did 
not hesitate to rip open the stomach of the domestic sow that 
was put into its cage, and a day later fell upon its keeper and 
injured him so severely that the man died in a few hours. The 
northern variety of the wart hog is not so formidable, and is 
found in a domesticated state. It has most of the habits of the 
domestic hog, and lives on potatoes and bran. 



212 ANIMALS IN ACTION. 



The Saiga, or Antelope of the Steppes. 

OF all the numerous varieties of the antelope, there are only 
two kinds in Europe, — the chamois of the Alps and other 
lofty mountains, and the saiga, or antelope of the steppes, 
a sketch of which is here presented to the reader. These ante- 
lopes, which are about the size of a deer, inhabit the plains 
of northeastern Europe, from the German boundary of Poland 
to the Altai Mountains, and from the lands of the southern 
Danube and the Carpathians to Siberia. One of the character- 
istic features of this strongly built antelope is its wide, thick 
nose and the snout which protrudes over the jaw. Its ears are 
short, stumpy, and rounded. The horns of the buck curve over 
in somewhat the shape of a lyre. They stand far apart, are 
knotty at the base, and furrowed with rings all the way up. At 
the very tip they are thin, transparent, and of brilliant coloring. 
The doe, on the other hand, has no horns. The length of the 
full-grown buck is about four and a half feet, and its height at 
the withers is over two feet and eight inches. The ill-formed, 
clumsy head of this animal makes it the least graceful of all 
the antelopes. Although its form is somewhat ungainly, the 
animal can run with great speed through the broad, flat coun- 
try which is its home. The saiga is to be found all through 
the summer in troops of from twenty to eighty head, only small 
portions of which are full-grown bucks. The mating time is in 
November, and by the first of May the female gives birth to 




Hunting the Saiga Antelope. 



THE SAIGA, OR ANTELOPE OF THE STEPPES. 215 

one or two kids. After the mating these separate troops gather 
in great herds of several thousand head, to wander throughout 
the winter in search of food ; but with the beginning of spring 
they again break up into small herds, each of which has its 
well-defined browsing ground. 

The hide of the saiga makes good leather, but its flesh has a 
disagreeable flavor, savoring strongly of the salty and coarse 
vegetation which forms the food of the animal. Only hunger 
or custom can render it palatable. In spite of this drawback, 
however, the Russians, Tartars, Kirghiz, and Kalmucks hunt the 
saiga eagerly either by stalking it or by pursuing it on horseback 
with trained golden eagles or dogs. The Tartars and Kirghiz 
often ride towards a wandering herd even without dogs and, 
selecting a choice animal, break up the herd and seek to capture 
it — a scene which' is shown in our illustration. The wolves are 
among the most dangerous enemies of the saiga and often 
exterminate whole herds of these animals. The kids when 
brought up by man become wonderfully tame, follow their mas- 
ters about like dogs, and at evening go back to their stalls 
unattended. 



2i6 ANIMALS IN ACTION. 



Ocelot capturing a Flamingo. 

IF the ocelot could only forget or forego his love for poultry, 
he might be a respectable member of society. The ocelots 
can be tamed as domestic pets, and will play and purr and 
fondle their master or mistress just as the house cat does ; but 
once let them spy hen or chickens, and their good behavior is 
blown to the winds ; they will pounce upon their feathered prey 
and strangle it without mercy ; just as, in their wild state, they 
are the remorseless enemy of the whole feathered kingdom from 
fowls to flamingoes. Our picture shows the ocelot indulging his 
wild tastes for birds. In this case it is the long-necked, long- 
legged flamingo of our southern waters. That wading bird of the 
Natatores order and the Anatidce family, with its brilliant plum- 
age and its nocturnal habits, is an easy prey to its night-wander- 
ing enemy, the ocelot ; for it flies low over the water, alighting 
as soon as the stream or pool shallows, and wading along the 
sedgy shores, where the spotted and ring-tailed forest cat lies 
in wait to pounce upon, seize, and strangle it. 

The ocelot is a sort of American tiger-cat, inhabiting the 
warm regions north and south of the equator. He is about 
four and one-half feet long, including the tail, and some twenty 
inches high, strong of body and large of head, with short ears, 
a long, tapering tail, and thick, soft, brightly colored, striped 
and spotted fur. He is afraid of man ; but man's chicken- 
coops too often prove an irresistible attraction, and, once sue- 







Ocelot capturing a Flamingo. 



THE ORANG-OUTANG. 219 

cessful in robbing roosts, the ocelot is liable to keep up his 
poultry raid until trapped by the farmer or run to death by his 
dogs. With the wild fowl of the forests and rivers he is gen- 
erally more successful, as in the case of the flamingo in our 
picture. 



The Orang-outang. 

THE monster swampy jungles of Sumatra and Borneo 
shelter numbers of one of the greatest manlike apes, 
known to Malays as the orang-outang, or " Man-of-the- 
Woods." To scientists it is known as the simia satynis or the 
pitheciLS satyrus, and in many respects is one of the most highly 
organized animals. The natives refuse to eat the flesh of the 
orang-outang because they believe he is an imperfect man, and 
that he could speak if he would, but prefers to remain dumb from 
fear of being put to work. The orang-outang attains to a height 
of four feet four inches in some extreme cases. It is thus one 
of the largest of the ape tribe, and is the nearest approach to 
man — a resemblance which is plainly observable in the skull 
of the young orang-outang when compared w" ;h that of a child. 
The head of the adult animal is pyramidal in shape, with a 
protruding snout and a projecting under jaw. Its body is broad 
at the hips, the stomach projects, and the neck is short and 
wrinkled in front, because the animal possesses a great throat- 
pouch that it can distend al will. It has long arms, provided 
with long hands and fingers. The thumbs of the feet often 
lack the flat nails. Its eyes and ears are very much like those 
of the human being, and its mouth is large and has a terrible 
power of biting. Its nose is flat, and the partition wall projects 
beyond the nostrils. It has a sparse growth of hair upon its 



220 ANIMALS IN ACTION. 

back and sides, but the covering of its head is thicker and some- 
what resembles a beard upon the chin. The hair is very long 
and rusty red or brown red on the sides of the body, shading 
darker on the back and breasts and somewhat lighter on the 
lower part of the face. On account of its long arms the orang- 
outang walks almost upright and supports itself upon its knuckles. 
It feeds chiefly upon fruit, which it occasionally seeks in the fields 
of the natives, where it leaves general destruction in its wake. 



Suricate and Great Shrew Mouse. 

THE most prolific among the mammals are the rodents, and 
especially the mice, which in our climate bring forth young 
seven or eight times a year. Still greater is the increase 
of these little mammals at the equator, and particularly in Africa. 
That continent produces a great variety of these animals, which 
increase at an enormous rate. Upon the Island of Ascencion 
there is a species of rat, the ancestors of which must have been 
taken there on some European ship. It has multiplied at such 
a rate that it has crowded the human population out of certain 
parts of the island. Among the native African varieties is the 
great shrew mouse (the Macroscelides typicits of the naturalists). 
It is a comparatively little known, harmless, and extremely shy 
creature. The great shrew mouse belongs to an allied and 
widely scattered variety, with thick, soft skin, very long hind 
legs, and little five-toed feet. Its length of about ten inches 
includes a tail of about four inches and a protruding and sensi- 
tive nose about half an inch long ; this nose sometimes gives 
it the name of the elephant shrew. It inhabits the bare, stony 
hills of the desert, and is purely a desert animal, elegant and 
swift in its movements, and so shy that it scampers into its 




Orang-outangs watching a Tiger Snake. 




Suricate attacking a Great Shrew Mouse. 



SURICATE AND GREAT SHREW MOUSE. 225 

hole at the sHghtest warning of danger. It has young ones at 
least nine times a year, and would multiply inconceivably if it 
were not exposed to violence from several birds and beasts of 
prey, among which the little-known suricate (scientifically known 
as Suricata tetradactyla)\& one of the most active. The suricate, 
common to the whole of South Africa, is about twenty inches 
long, that is to say, about the size of a half-grown house cat, 
which animal, indeed, it resembles somewhat. The suricate 
has, however, a pointed head, and five-toed feet armed with 
sharp claws. It is, one might say, a cross between a marten 
and a cat. The suricate is primarily a dweller of the desert, 
active, swift, and ever on the watch for prey. It eats snakes, 
mice, rats, and other small animals. It has, however, a par- 
ticularly sharp appetite for the great shrew mouse. It creeps 
and pounces upon this animal everywhere, and in this manner 
effectively limits the increase of the rodent. 



226 



ANIMALS IN ACTION. 



Bearded Vulture and Common Griffin in Combat. 



ON the barren plains and high plateaus of Tibet, above 
the forest line, the traveller meets the Ovis polii, or Pamir 
sheep, the greatest of sheepUke animals. Without count- 
ing the tail this animal is six feet eight inches long, and measures 
nearly three and one-half feet high at the shoulders, weighing 
about four hundred and ninety pounds. The giant horns of the 
male meet at the base, and at that point measure about twenty 
inches in circumference. They are curiously marked with great, 
closely lined rings. The horns of the female are smaller and 
resemble those of the goat. About the neck of both male and 
female is a thick woolly mane. The color of the animal is 
brown, with dark stripes upon the back. The Pamir sheep live 
in small herds of about five to fifteen head, in exceptional cases 
as many as thirty, which are led by a ram. They are wonderful 
climbers and very sure-footed. The Kirghiz believe that these 
hardy animals break the concussion of a plunge from a high cliff 
by falling on their horns. As a rule the Pamir sheep are very 
shy and inoffensive, but at mating time the rams fight with 
fierce desperation. During these battles the mountains reecho 
with the sound of one hard skull striking against another, with 
a sharp report like the crack of a pistol. The struggle often 
continues until one of the combatants has been flung over the 
edge of a precipitous cliff. A griffin sailing in the dizzy heights 
has observed the fall of the conquered sheep, and swoops down 





I >..; h. n 



§Mf\ 



Bearded Vulture and Common Griffin fighting for Body of Pamir Sheep 



BEARDED VULTURE AND COMMON GRIFFIN. 229 

rapidly upon the quivering body. This bird has an odd ap- 
pearance. Its sHm head, with a proportionately weak beak, 
tapers into a goosehke neck which is partly covered with white, 
downhke feathers. The plumage is uniformly light brown, 
somewhat darker underneath than upon the back. Standing 
upright upon his short legs, the griffin measures about a yard 
in length. His first move after he has alighted upon the dying 
sheep is to plough into the belly of his prize and tear out the en- 
trails. But while the griffin is engaged in this task, a bearded 
vulture swoops down upon the scene, quickly followed by his 
mate. The form of the newcomer is far nobler than that of 
the griffin. The great head of this bird ends in a long and 
heavy beak, surrounded by a fringe of bristles at the base. His 
plumage is rusty yellow and black. In size the vulture has a 
decided advantage over the griffn. The new arrival rushes at 
his opponent with outstretched wings and wide-open beak, but 
the original discoverer of the prize does not allow himself to 
be driven away by a mere show of force. He is courageous, 
quick, and fierce, and awaits the onslaught with ruffled plu- 
mage, head drawn back, and beak wide open for defence. 
Suddenly he stretches out his neck with the quickness of a 
flash, and aims a blow at the interloper. The latter, however, 
is on his guard, and the battle continues with varying fortunes. 
But in the end the superior strength of the vulture gives him 
the victory, and he immediately proceeds to share the booty 
with his mate, while the griffin, exhausted and bleeding, flies 
away to seek other prey. Thus, in all nature, must the strong 
yield ever to the stronger. 



230 ANIiMALS IN ACTION. 



The Peacock Argus. 

IN 1780 there came for the first time from the East Indies to 
Europe the feathery covering of a gorgeous bird which, up 
to that time; had been known only by hearsay, and had been 
classified as a pheasant of wonderful beauty. From that time the 
wearer of these feathers was called the argus pheasant. The 
name, however, is misleading in every respect ; for the beautiful 
bird, a native of the East Indies and Malacca, is a pure peacock 
in appearance, form, disposition, and mode of living. Hence 
the name peacock argus or argus peacock is far more applicable 
to it than its original designation of pheasant, unless one prefers 
to call it by its Sumatran name of kuau. The peacock argus (as 
shown in our picture) attains to an average length of three and 
a half feet, more than two-thirds of which is taken up by the 
middle tail feathers. The plumage of the cock is of noble 
coloring, and the creature is perhaps the most beautiful of all 
known birds. The short feathers on its crown are velvety 
black, and those on the back of the head yellow and streaked 
with black, while the back is striped and spotted with light 
yellow dots and bands upon a background of brown. The 
plumage on the middle of the back is marked with dark brown 
dots upon a yellowish background, and that upon the lower por- 
tions of the body is banded with reddish brown, black, and light 
yellow markings. The long tail feathers are black and marked 
with white spots surrounded by black borders. When the bird is 




rM 





The Peacock Argus. 



THE PEACOCK ARGUS. 233 

in repose, comparatively little can be seen of the striking beauty 
of its plumage ; but he appears in all his glory during the mating 
season, when, with wings outstretched and tail spread out, he 
struts about the forest clearings paying suit to his prospective 
mate. As if to compensate for some of the glory of her lord, 
the hen is much smaller than the cock, and has a far more 
modest appearance. The young receive their resplendent cover- 
ing only after repeated moulting. Little is known about the 
propagation of this beautiful bird, because it invariably conceals 
its nest in the most impenetrable part of the virgin forest. 
According to the accounts given by the natives, the hen lays 
from seven to ten eggs, somewhat inferior to goose eggs in size. 
These are deposited in a rude nest made of dry branches and 
leaves hastily scratched together. In the heat of noon the 
traveller or hunter comes upon the peacock argus in the deepest 
mountain forests of Sumatra, in some clearing which has been 
made dry by the withering sun. Here the glorious bird spends 
the tropical day resting, playing, lying on the warm ground, or 
bathing in the sand. His voice is as mournful as that of the 
domestic peacock, and his native name ("kuau") is an exact 
imitation of its cry. In his native haunts the argus lives upon 
insects, snails, worms, and buds of various kinds. In captivity 
he quickly sickens and dies, so that he is seldom seen in aviaries. 
His flesh, which the Malays prize as a delicacy, tastes very much 
like that of the common pheasant. The natives catch him in 
snares, but he is so shy that the hunter is seldom able to approach 
him within gunshot ; and his coloring harmonizes so exactly with 
the tropical foHage of the surrounding vegetation that he has no 
difflculty in concealing himself even from the keen eye of the 
native. 



234 ANIMALS IN ACTION. 



The Tapir. 

THE harmless and timid tapir is to be found throughout 
South America, from La Plata to the isthmus of Darien, 
in the primeval forests and in the region of lakes and 
streams and swamp lands. He belongs to the snouted animals, 
and is nearly four feet long, full three feet seven inches in height, 
and weighs three hundred or four hundred pounds. If the for- 
ests of South America did not shelter the peccary, the tapir 
would be the nearest approach to our wild hog to be found there, 
for the animal looks and acts a great deal like the wild hog. 
The tapir, however, lives mostly on vegetables, while the hog 
does not disdain other food. The female tapir, to which the 
above measurements apply, is larger than her mate, and the gait 
of both is slow and ponderous. There are two kinds of tapirs, 
the earth or dark brown tapir {Tapinis amer'icanus) and the 
hairy tapir ( Tapii^iis villosus), the latter being distinguished from 
the former chiefly in possessing a longer, heavier, and less 
bristly covering of hair. Both kinds are night animals, and fre~ 
quent the swampy forest, where, by dint of frequent passage 
over the same tracks, they make well-beaten paths which often 
guide the hunter to their lairs. The tapir, unlike our domestic 
hog, does not live in herds, but wanders alone like the rhinoceros. 
The female, of course, goes with her young, which she brings 
forth into the world one at a time. The animals are seldom 
seen except while they are drinking and bathing at night or in 




Tapir and Young pursued by Jaguar. 



THE TAPIR. 237 

the early morning. During the rest of the time they lie con- 
cealed in the heavy growth of the jungle or remain buried in the 
mire up to their snouts to protect themselves from the bites of 
insects. The usual fare of the tapir consists of various kinds 
of foliage, and especially tender leaves and roots of water plants, 
as well as the shoots of palms and cicadas ; but they sometimes 
venture into the plantations and destroy sugar-cane and yam, 
mango and melon plants. When alarmed they emit a thin, 
shrill, whistling sound and rush in blind haste into the nearest 
thicket. If they are wounded or cornered, however, they face 
about and defend themselves with teeth and hoofs, and are espe- 
cially fierce in defence of their young. Their bitterest enemy, 
after the human hunter, is the swift and cruel jaguar {Leopardiis 
unga\ which lies in wait and springs upon a passing tapir 
from an overhanging branch. The efforts of the jaguar often 
prove fruitless, however, for the tapir runs swiftly into the 
nearest thicket and brushes off his enemy, who finds the great- 
est difficulty in plunging his claws into the thick hide of his 
victim. The proximity of the water is a great protection to the 
tapir, as our picture shows. Screaming with fright, the mother 
tapir, accompanied by her young, plunges into the friendly 
element. Here the jaguar must give up the struggle, since he 
cannot dive and swim as the tapir can. 



238 ANIMALS IN ACTION. 



The Octopus and the Lobster. 

THE navigators of past centuries have left blood-curdling 
tales of the octopus, whose body was said to be as big as 
an island and whose tentacles were as thick as masts, able 
to pull down a war-ship into the depths of the sea. These descrip- 
tions are very much colored, but they are not by any means en- 
tirely fictitious. In very late times some specimens, thrown up by 
the tide on the strands along the western part of the Atlantic 
Ocean, were captured, and on measurement their bodies were 
found to be from fifteen to eighteen feet long, and the reach of 
their powerful tentacles was thirty feet. It goes without saying 
that such monsters could prove very dangerous to fishing smacks. 
These giants, however, are seldom met with, though smaller 
specimens are found in large numbers in the Mediterranean. 
Many of them are caught by boys on the Riveria. The common 
octopus belongs to the order of the Cephalopoda. It has a sack- 
like, rounded body with eight tentacles covered on the" inside 
with suckers. The eyes are enormously large, dark, and phos- 
phorescent, shedding an uncanny light when the animal is in 
anger. On one side of the head there is a tubelike organ 
which the animal uses as a means of propulsion, by admitting 
water into it and then violently ejecting it. Thus the creature 
advances through the water at a high rate of speed, hind part 
first. When alarmed the octopus discharges through its funnel 
an inklike fluid, the so-called sepia. This liquid surrounds the 




The Octopus and the Lobster. 



THE OCTOPUS AND THE LOBSTER. 241 

creature like a cloud, concealing it from its pursuers. The ani- 
mal breathes through gills Hke an ordinary fish. The octopus is 
a voracious feeder, and devours large quantities of fish, crabs, 
snails, and mussels ; in fact, he seems to have a special appetite for 
every living creature which he can overpower. He watches for 
his prey in shallow waters, lying motionless between the rocks. 
At such times he has a whitish gray color, similar to that of 
his surroundings. As soon as his prey appears, the watcher 
throws himself with incredible swiftness upon it, throws his 
arms about it, and fastens his suckers deep into its body. Dur- 
ing the heat of the battle his color changes visibly from brown 
and red to yellow, the long arms shoot hither and thither Hke 
snakes, loosening themselves at one place only to refasten with 
lightninglike speed at another, wartUke protuberances make 
their appearance upon his back, and his eyes glisten with such 
a wild and cruel light that the octopus becomes far more repul- 
sive than he ordinarily is. How great is the courage of the 
octopus and the audacity of his attack and defence, as well as 
the power of his soft, boneless arms, was recently shown in a 
combat between a small octopus and a lobster, which took place 
in an Italian aquarium. A lobster from the Mediterranean, a 
giant of his kind, which was quartered in the large basin, one 
day cut off the head of a turtle with a snap of his claw. As a 
punishment for his crime he was placed in another basin in 
which a number of small octopi were kept. In the beginning 
the polypi circled rather cautiously and suspiciously about the 
intruder, always retreating before his great uplifted claws, until 
at last one of the octopi ventured upon a decided attack. In- 
stantly the lobster was surrounded by the tentacles and body of 
the octopus. Everything seemed to be polypus, only a small 
part of the lobster being visible. Then one of the claws of the 
lobster closed upon an arm of the attacking animal and it looked 



242 ANIMALS IN ACTION. 

as if the limb would be amputated. Evidently the octopus feared 
as much, for he retired from the conflict, and both contestants 
withdrew into opposite corners of the basin. But peace did not 
last long. The attack was renewed from time to time, and the 
lobster had to be placed in a neighboring basin, which was sepa- 
rated from the first by a partition reaching half an inch above 
the level of the water. But even this did not mend matters. In 
the course of the first day the octopus scaled the wall, pounced 
upon the unwary lobster, and literally tore him in two after a 
short struggle. It is worthy of note that the aggressiveness of 
the octopus was not prompted by hunger, as there was plenty of 
food in the aquarium, and the attack was caused by sheer hatred 
and love of revenge. This incident is a ghastly indication of 
the character of this marvellous animal, and conveys a faint idea 
of the frightful combats which are constantly going on beneath 
the surface of the sea. 



The California Bighorn. 

THERE is a wonderful and suggestive parallel in the dis- 
tribution of wild animals over the different zones of the 
earth. Under similar conditions of altitude and climate^ 
similar animals are to be found in the Old and the New World 
alike. Among the precipitous mountains of North America, the 
place of the Alpine ibex is taken by the mountain sheep or big- 
horn, a noble animal closely related to the ibex, the Asiatic argali, 
and the Pamir sheep. Its body is as large as that of a stag, and its 
head might be taken for a copy of that of a sheep or an ibex. 
The ram is about three feet high at the shoulders, and the 
female a little less than that. Both have a strongly knit and 
thick-set body. The ram, however, differs from his mate in that 




^ ^^>s--.' -i-/'^ -J'^ 



Bighorn Sheep battUng. 



THE CALIFORNIA BIGHORN. 245 

he has a set of peculiarly curving horns which weigh about fifty 
pounds, while the head of the female is adorned with modest 
horns not over four inches in length. The bighorn is to be 
found only on the western slopes of the mountains, between the 
fortieth and fifty-fifth degrees north latitude, and in the bleakest 
and most precipitous regions, especially in that large tract of ter- 
ritory which French-Canadian trappers called the '' Terres Mau- 
vaises " (Bad Lands). Here this hardy creature is met with in 
herds of varying size. Its general habits are like those of the 
ibex, an animal which it resembles in its wonderful swiftness 
and sureness in climbing almost perpendicular cliffs, and in its 
timidity and sharp sense of sight and smell. The females and 
the infirm njales remain together all the year in herds of from ten 
to fifty head. The able-bodied rams go in pairs or singly, and 
return to the herd at mating time, when they fight with great 
spirit until the strongest has driven his weaker rival away from 
the females. Such a struggle is presented in our picture. Until 
recently no one had succeeded in capturing a bighorn or its 
young alive, for a few weeks after the birth of their kids the 
mothers take their young into the inaccessible cliffs and moun- 
tain caves, where even the most daring hunter would be rash to 
follow. Indians and whites vie with the wolf in pursuing the 
bighorn. The thick and yet soft hide of the animal makes a very 
fine quality of leather ; and its flesh, while in the fat, from the 
middle of August until the end of November, is very savory, and 
furnishes the successful hunter with a delectable dish. A large- 
sized ram weighs as much as three hundred pounds, and almost 
every part of the animal, from the hoofs to the tips of the horns, 
is very valuable. 



246 ANIMALS IN ACTION. 



A Vanishing Animal. 



GENERAL RUSH G. HAWKINS, a noted American 
sportsman and soldier, considers the extermination of the 
bison as one of the most pathetic chapters in the entire 
history of human cruelty. The trapper Kit Carson, who traversed 
the prairie in the early period of the settlement of the West, relates 
that during a six days' journey he travelled constantly through a 
single herd of buffalo, and says that during his progress there was 
nothing but sky and buffalo to be seen as far as the eye could 
reach. In 1871 there were two great buffalo herds in the United 
States — south and north. The former, estimated at 3,000,000 
head, had ceased to exist in two years. In 1880, at the time 
of the building of the Northern Pacific Railroad, the northern 
herd was estimated to contain 1,500,000 head. During the follow- 
ing year the Hudson Bay Company exterminated 230,000 of 
them in order to secure their tongues and hides. 

When it was already too late to do much toward saving the 
remnant of this noble animal. Congress interested itself in the 
matter. As many bisons as could be found were taken to 
the Yellowstone Park, and another refuge for the buffaloes was 
established in 1891 at the Salt Lake in Utah. In 1894 there 
were 200 of these animals in Yellowstone Park. Two years 
later only fifty of these were left, because poachers, either with 
the aid or the connivance of the park officials, roamed about the 
great national reservation, and shot down the animals at their 




Fighting Buffaloes (a Vanishing Animal). 



A VANISHING ANIMAL. 249 

own cruel pleasure. The number of buffaloes in Canada in 
1889 was placed at 650 by an eminent Canadian authority. In 
commenting on this circumstance the same authority remarked : 
"The Indian is perishing with the buffalo." 

One result of the extermination of the buffalo was that the 
Indians began to starve. They grew restless, revolted, and 
went on the war-path against the white settlers. The latter 
took terrific reprisals, and the general result was a war of 
extermination between the red man and the white, with all too 
pathetic results for the former. 

The buffalo or bison is an animal of imposing appearance. 
Its head is thick and powerful, and somewhat larger in the bull 
than in the cow. The horns of both male and female are short 
and thick, curved outward and then upward, and pointed in 
again. The head, neck, and fore part of the body are covered 
with a shaggy mane, which lend a peculiarly ferocious aspect to 
the animal. In addition, the bull has a beard at its chin and 
throat. The nose of the animal is wide and well adapted to the 
purpose of shovelling away the snow under which, in the winter 
time, the buffalo must seek his pasture. The eye of the buffalo 
is large and wide open, and does not display that meek look 
which we are accustomed to see in our domestic cattle, but 
speaks of boldness and defiance. Owing to the mighty growth 
of grayish brown fur that covers it, the buffalo looks somewhat 
larger than it really is. But the animal cannot by any means 
be considered small, because a full-grown bull weighs 2000 pounds 
and more. The buffalo is an exceedingly active animal, runs 
with great speed, and can travel with safety over territory that 
would be almost impassable to a horse. The flesh of the full- 
grown bull has, particularly in the spring, a strong flavor, and 
is always tougher than that of the cow. Next to the haunch, 
the tongue is the most appetizing portion of the buffalo. The 



250 ANIMALS IN ACTION. 

trappers used to cut the flesh into strips, which they called 
fleeces. Dried and pressed buffalo beef was known as pemmi- 
can, and looked somewhat like tarred oakum. The substance 
was tough and hard as leather, but would not spoil, and was 
easy to carry. 

With the progress of the trapper the herds had to wander 
farther and farther in search of pasture and safety. They 
swam the broadest streams, and the mothers carried the smaller 
calves on their backs. In the spring the bulls, a polygamous 
lot, met in deadly battle for the possession of a mate. Accord- 
ing to the accounts of settlers, the bellowing of the combatants 
could be heard for many miles on a quiet day. 



Bezoar and Lynx. 

THE bezoar resembles the Alpine ibex very closely in ap- 
pearance and habits. This member of the family of goats 
lives for the most part in the mountains of Asia Minor and 
Persia, but is sufficiently numerous in some of the islands of 
Greece. The full-grown buck is about four feet in length, over 
three feet and a half in height at the withers, but the female is 
considerably smaller than the male. The body of the animal is 
thick and its legs thin and rather long. Its horns, very thick 
and powerful, form a fairly regular bow with the ends bending 
backward, and both male and female are adorned with a full and 
imposing beard. In the mountains of Asia the bezoar is found at 
a height of forty-five hundred feet above the level of the sea, and 
even at an altitude higher than that. It frequents particularly the 
places where a certain small yellow flower grows in hardy clusters 
about the crevices of the cliffs. This vegetation the animal crops 



'ir. 



■ -P.,' 




Bezoar Goat defending his Family from a Lynx. 



BEZOAR AND LYNX. 253 

with great relish. In summer the bucks wander in the immedi- 
ate neighborhood of the eternal snows and venture to the very 
foot of the glaciers, where they live alone, while the she-goats and 
their young remain in the lowlands. As soon, however, as the 
snow falls upon the upper regions, the bucks come down to pair 
and spend the winter with their families. The bezoar feeds 
upon grass, cedar needles, leaves, fruits, and the like. It is a 
very timid animal, and can jump over surprisingly large distances 
in its flight from danger. It ventures in the most perilous places 
with so much skill and sureness of foothold that it hardly ever 
suffers a fall. The eagle, the bearded vulture, and the lynx are 
among the enemies of the bezoar. The birds of prey often 
plunge down suddenly and seize a kid, while the lynx creeps 
noiselessly upon the browsing herd and accomplishes his deadly 
purpose before the bucks have become aware of his deadly 
proximity. In fact, this beast of prey, a lean and crafty fellow 
of the size of our native lynx, and most beautifully spotted, 
devotes himself largely to the pursuit of the bezoar kids. With 
its marvellously sharp sense of hearing and of sight the crafty 
and creeping lynx succeeds, despite the constant watchfulness 
of the buck, in getting near a herd and pouncing upon one 
of the browsing animals. Our suggestive picture transports 
us into the fastnesses of the Taurus, a range of mountains 
in Asia Minor. A lynx has crept unnoticed upon a family of 
bezoars, has pounced upon the back of the old goat, and has 
fastened its teeth into the neck of the animal. Poor Nanny 
rushes off, bleating piteously, while her courageous mate 
promptly starts in pursuit and tries to dislodge the marauder by 
a free use of his horns. This he often succeeds in doing, and 
then woe to the luckless lynx. 



54 ANIMALS IN ACTION. 



The Frigate Bird. 

THE leading place among the numerous kinds of swimming 
birds that people the sea and the coasts that border it, be- 
longs to the frigate bird ( TacJiyeptes aqiiiliis, as the Latin 
name runs), of the order of rudder-feet. The frigate bird well 
deserves to be called the eagle of the sea, for no marine bird can 
vie with it in beauty of plumage or in swiftness and elegance of 
flight. Its wings are wonderfully long and finely pointed at the 
ends; its tail is long and deeply forked, and its body uncommonly 
light, since the adult bird, which measures a little over three feet 
eight inches from the point of the beak to the end of the tail, 
and a little over seven feet and eight inches from tip to tip 
of his outstretched wings, weighs considerably less than a fair- 
sized chicken. The plumage of the full-grown male is brownish 
black with a purple metallic gleam on the head, neck, back, 
breast, and sides. Its wings are spotted with gray, and the 
feathers on the upper part of the wings and the tail are brown. 
The strong, hooked beak is light blue at the base, white in the 
middle, and horn-colored at the end. The sack at its throat is a 
rich yellow, and the feet light carmine red — a beautiful minghng 
of colors which at once indicates that the home of the bird is in 
the tropics. The frigate bird seldom ventures into more northern 
latitudes, and is so very numerous about the equator that no 
voyager who sails by its home can fail to make its acquaintance. 
It sometimes builds its nest seventy or a hundred miles inland. 



p'-iiiBsiilll 




;^f'jwp 



iliPBiliMliii^ 



fcs^ ' '"'Si 



im 



^'W Hi 




*rs- 



Frigate Birds hunting Flying Fish. 



THE FRIGATE BIRD. 257 

and ordinarily goes only about twenty miles out to sea, so that 
its appearance is always regarded by navigators as an indica- 
tion of the nearness of land. At every sign of a coming change 
in the weather, or when the bird has eaten all the fish he desires, 
he turns from the sea and seeks his nest on the land. The frigate 
bird lives chiefly on flying-fish, which he pursues with great 
swiftness. His vision is wonderfully sharp. Frequently he is 
seen poised motionless high up against the blue sky, or soaring 
like the eagle, and then he falls upon the surface of the sea 
with the speed of lightning, to pounce upon the fish which he 
has descried from his remote station. After he has grasped 
his prey he flies upward with it, and very frequently drops it 
three or four times, only to catch it and to fix his talons more 
firmly into the struggling body before it has had time to fall 
back into the water. The beautiful huntsman follows the dol- 
phins and porpoises when they are pursuing the flying-fish, 
and often shares in their booty. His feet are webbed only one- 
third of the way, so that he seldom swims. He also finds some 
difficulty in rising from the water or flat ground, and therefore 
invariably perches upon trees or high cliffs, from which he can 
begin his flight with the greatest ease. He is strongly attracted 
by bright objects, such as the vari-colored streamers of ships, 
and his curiosity in this respect sometimes leads to his capture. 
The frigate bird may also be caught on land, but he defends 
himself fiercely, and has been known to resist even ferocious 
dogs in defence of his young. 



258 ANIMALS IN ACTION. 



Mongoos and Cobra de Capello. 

IN India the mongoos {Herpestes griseiis) does the same ser- 
vice to man that our domestic cat performs in keeping our 
dwelHngs free from Uttle four-legged pests ; but on the whole 
the mongoos is the more useful animal of the two, and is superior 
to the cat in intelligence and daring. The mongoos is closely 
related to the ichneumon, the rat of the Pharaohs, the holy ani- 
mal of the Egyptians, The animal is about a foot and a half 
long and has a tail of the same length. The hair of the ichneu- 
mon, which is especially thick about the tail, is a light reddish 
brown, flecked with yellow which gives a golden sheen to the pelt. 
The mongoos is easily domesticated, is capable of great attach- 
ment for its master, and follows him about like a dog. It is a 
good-natured, and almost painfully tidy and cleanly animal. It 
clears a dwelling of rats and mice in the shortest time, ranging 
through all hiding places, holes, and cracks until all the little 
pests have been killed or driven away. The mongoos performs a 
still greater service to mankind by its fearless pursuit of the 
venomous snakes of India, among which the cobra is the most 
dangerous. The bite of the cobra is invariably fatal, and thou- 
sands of human beings perish from it yearly. Although the 
cobra reaches a length of over five feet, the mongoos rushes 
upon it without hesitation and generally succeeds in conquering 
his enemy. When he discovers a cobra he approaches it steadily, 
his little eyes constantly fastened upon the dangerous animaL 







Mongoose (Rikki-Tikki-Tavi) attacking a Cobra. 



MONGOOS AND COBRA DE CAPELLO. 261 

As a rule the cautious cobra spies the approaching enemy in 
time, and immediately erects the upper part of its body, distends 
its disklike neck, and, with a loud hissing noise, turns toward the 
little hero with wide-open mouth, bristling with venomous teeth. 

The mongoos approaches slowly, watching every movement of 
the snake with unwavering intenseness. Immovable as a statue 
in front, and straining every muscle behind, the cobra glides 
toward the disturber of its peace. Suddenly the mongoos jumps 
skilfully upon his enemy, so as to avoid the yawning jaws, catches 
the snake by the neck, and bites the spine in two with his sharp 
teeth before the cobra can find an opportunity to use its fatal 
teeth. The bite of the cobra is as likely to prove fatal to the 
mongoos as to any other warm-blooded animal. The Hindoos 
believe that a bitten mongoos makes straight for a certain root, 
by the application of which it becomes immune against the 
effect of the poison. The naturalist Brehm thinks that there 
is some basis of truth for this belief. But, however that may 
be, the mongoos as a rule emerges from the conflict a victor. 
Mr. Kipling's story of " Rikki-tikki-tavi " is one of the best 
mongoos tales on record. 

Owing to his useful qualities this animal is kept in a domesti- 
cated state throughout India, but he shares with the cat an 
exceedingly inconvenient liking for chickens, and often uses the 
cunning of the fox to seize a succulent fowl. The wily mongoos 
spreads himself out on the ground as if dead. Full of foolish 
curiosity, the fowls gradually approach. As soon as one of 
them has come within reach, the little robber jumps up and 
catches the imprudent visitor before it has time to run away. 
Therefore the mongoos, no matter how tame it may be, is always 
rigidly excluded from the hen-yard. 



262 ANIMALS IN ACTION. 



The Cougar, or Puma. 

THE puma is the American equivalent of the lion. This 
animal is found all the way from Patagonia to the borders 
of Canada. It is notably smaller than the African lion, 
usually measuring six and one-half feet in length. The puma 
also lacks the mane and the beautiful massive build of the Afri- 
can lion, as well as the expressive face of the king of animals. 
The puma is more catlike and lean, with a small round head, 
and is very swift and subtle. It has thick legs, armed with 
sharp claws, and its coat is thick and soft, mainly of a reddish 
shade of yellow, darker on the spine and lighter underneath 
the body. The puma is essentially a night prowler, and lives 
mainly in the forests, which at times it leaves to steal through 
the tall grass into the pasture lands and farms. Here he works 
much mischief among the cattle, and is more bloodthirsty than 
his African relative, for he chokes and tears whenever he gets 
a chance, destroying far more than he can eat. He invariably 
drinks his fill of blood before he begins to devour his prey. The 
hunt of the puma does not involve any serious danger, for his 
bruteship never attacks man, but invariably seeks to flee from 
him. Th-is cowardly trait it retains even when it has been 
wounded, and depends upon concealment rather than upon re- 
sistance to escape from the hunter. The puma is very cordially 
hated in all the countries in which it is to be found. In North 
America this beast is called the cougar or panther, the Chileans 




Pumas fighting for the Booty of a Nandu. 



THE CROCODILE AND THE PELICAN. 265 

know it as the Papi, while in Mexico it bears the name of Mitzli. 
The customary prey of the piima is the smaller mammals, such 
as pacas, sheep, and even calves and colts, but the last two he 
attacks only when they stray from their mothers. As a rule, 
however, the American lion fears cattle and horses on account 
of their horns and hoofs. The puma is such a fleet runner 
that he often catches the American ostrich on the run. Our 
illustration shows two pumas strugghng for the possession of a 
South American ostrich. Might will decide the right to the 
prize, and when the decision has been made the weaker of the 
two contestants will sneak away whining and whimpering. 
This beast of prey has so strong a sense of scent and sight that 
he quickly detects the hunter and hastens to make his escape. 
In pursuing the puma the hunters use packs of hounds, which 
surround the animal and prevent its escape until the arrival of 
their master. 



The Crocodile and the Pelican. 

THE traveller constantly wonders at the countless number 
of pelicans that frequent the waters and fly in great flocks 
about the banks of the river of Egypt. On the Nile, as 
far as Khartoum, upon the coast lakes of Egypt, and through- 
out the inland places near the equator, the pelican {Pelicanits 
onocrotaliis\ the predominant and characteristic bird, peoples the 
shores and flocks upon the shallows. This strange bird is a 
good swimmer and flies well, but cannot dive, and so must 
range about the shallow water and seize his prey with his ill- 
shaped beak. For that reason he often changes his home to 



266 ANIMALS IN ACTION. 

seek other waters that have not been searched through. The 
pelican cannot be classed as a useful bird, nor is it particularly 
harmful, except when its greed makes too much havoc among 
the fishes. As a rule, the natives do not molest the bird, and 
in the seacoast regions about the Red Sea it is so tame that it 
approaches the ships for scraps of refuse, and does not even 
take pains to get out of the way of pedestrians, but, with its 
slow and heavy walk, mingles with the people on shore. At 
the firing of a shot the entire flock takes the alarm and flies 
away with an indescribable rustling of wings. These birds 
travel enormous distances, and flocks of them have been known 
to stray to the German lakes. In the spring they scatter in 
swarms about the streams and lakes of Africa to lay their eggs 
and hatch their broods. No one troubles them at this time, for 
the Mohammedans regard the pelican as a sacred bird, under 
the special protection of the Koran. Tradition has it that at 
the building of the Kaaba in Mecca, water had to be brought 
from a great distance, and the masons often had to stop work 
on account of the scarcity of water. Then Allah came to the 
aid of the workers, and sent thousands of peHcans which filled 
their crops with water and brought it to the builders. The 
blacks of Egypt regard the pelican with a superstitious awe, 
and so none molests the birds at brooding time, when they lay 
from three to five rather small eggs in a damp nest, built upon 
the ground, of reeds and rushes. Yet this notable bird has a 
destructive enemy. The crocodile often creeps upon the brood- 
ing mother. The scent of the pelicans must be very dull in- 
deed, for they cannot detect the odor of musk which the 
crocodile emits at all times. Many broods are sacrificed to 
the appetite of the crocodile, but their number does not dimin- 
ish perceptibly on that account. 






«-s5?' 



%-'-^^# 





-'^^ 



Pelican attacked by a Crocodile. 



EGYPTIAN ASP AND JERBOA, OR JUMPING MOUSE. 269 



Egyptian Asp capturing a Jerboa, or Jumping 

Mouse. 

AS a rule mice are among the pests of mankind, and are 
treated accordingly. An exception to this rule is the 
charming jumping mouse, a rare creature, which at first 
sight resembles a tiny kangaroo. These inoffensive creatures live 
chiefly in Africa and Asia, where they frequent the dry fields, 
grassy plains, and sandy wastes, and dig their widely branching 
houses. Here they remain in close concealment all day long, but 
after sundown they come out for food, and then hop and jump 
about in a lively manner, looking for roots, corn, and seeds of vari- 
ous kinds, as well as leaves, grass, and herbs. One jump follows 
another in rapid succession, and the animal generally succeeds 
in outstripping a pursuer in a very short time. As the open 
desert furnishes them with all the food they want, they are not 
tempted to venture into cultivated land, and for that reason have 
not incurred the displeasure of the farmers. They have their 
enemies, however, and among them is the Egyptian asp. The 
Egyptian variety of this reptile is more formidable than the 
Asiatic, the full-grown specimen measuring about two yards in 
length. Its color is generally the color of the desert, and it 
varies slightly with the color of the exact location in which the 
animal lives. In Egypt these snakes live in the treeless plains 
and desert wastes, where they choose their lurking-places amid 
mounds and stones. Sometimes, however, they seize the dwell- 



270 ANIMALS IN ACTION. 

ing of the jumping mouse, after they have devoured its original 
occupant. The venom of the Egyptian asp is exceedingly 
virulent, and causes death in a very brief space of time. And 
yet the Egyptian fakirs often take these serpents about with 
them, and make them dance to the music of their flutes in the 
■midst of the crowded market-places. The method which these 
skilful men use to capture the deadly serpents is simple, and 
yet very curious. Armed with a long staff, the fakir proceeds 
to the hole of the reptile, and holds out a thick bundle of rags 
fastened to the end of the stick. In great rage the serpent 
bites into the rags. The snake charmer then quickly pulls 
away the stick to break off the poison fangs, which have been 
firmly fastened into the rags. When he has accompHshed this 
the fakir grasps the serpent firmly by the throat and thrusts it 
into the leather sack. In spite of the fact that the catcher is 
sometimes bitten, and invariably dies of his wounds, he and his 
kind are esteemed as sorcerers, and are believed to be proof 
against poison. 





Egyptian Asp capturing a Jerboa, or Jumping Mouse. 




Marabou in Battle with Hyenas. 



MARABOU IN BATTLE WITH HYENAS. 275 



Marabou in Battle with Hyenas. 

THE marabou is greedy beyond any other bird, and has 
so powerful a sense of smell that it can scent a carcass 
at an incredible distance away, and can espy with unerr- 
ing accuracy any wounded animal which may have escaped the 
hunters in South and Central Africa. With persistent tenacity 
he follows the movements of the struggling creature. There are 
more marabous in the wake of the leader, and when the wounded 
beast finally succumbs the whole flock of winged scavengers 
drop quickly down upon the carcass, and begin their feast. It 
very often happens, however, that a pack of hyenas is following 
the same prey, and a curious battle takes place when the rival 
bands of robbers meet. The marabous defend their title to the 
victim with great dermination, and inflict many a sore wound with 
their thick, sharp beaks. The superior strength of the hyenas 
does not always avail them in their fight with the marabous, as 
will be seen in our picture, which shows the marabou at his 
meal defending it against three of his rivals, as eager as they 
are cowardly, for the bird will stick to his booty until he is half 
torn to pieces by the snarhng pack. Indeed, the marabou seldom 
gives up the remnant of his banquet until he has gorged himself. 



2 76 ANIMALS IN ACTION. 



Sperm Whale and Polar Fox. 

AS an object of the cupidity of the hunter, the sperm whale 
is second in order only to the Greenland whale, which sur- 
passes it in size. In addition to blubber, the sperm whale 
yields the valuable spermaceti and the costly ambergris. But even 
at that the prize is scarcely worth the danger which must be 
risked in its capture. While the Greenland whale runs away 
when it is attacked, the sperm whale defends itself fiercely, and 
often takes the offensive, overturns or smashes a whaleboat 
with a mighty blow fof the tail, and sometimes even breaks a 
hole in the side of a whaling ship, sinking the vessel with all on 
board. Such a performance is not to be wondered at when it 
is remembered that a full-grown sperm whale often measures 
ninety feet in length and nearly thirty-five feet about the 
thickest part of the body. The muscular strength of the giant 
is marvellous, even when considered with reference to the size 
of his body. The sperm whale differs from the other great 
cetaceans chiefly in the form of the head and the shape of the 
lower jaw, which is noticeably smaller than that of the other 
whales. To approach a sperm bull whale is so risky a ven- 
ture that no really accurate representation of the living animal 
is obtainable. 

A much better opportunity for study of the species is 
afforded when, as frequently happens, one of these giants has 
been cast up by storms upon some beach, where he soon dies 







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Stranded Sperm Whale and Polar Foxes. 



SPERM WHALE AND POLAR FOX. 279 

and is devoured eagerly by beast and fowl. Our picture shows 
the carcass of a stranded sperm whale which has already been 
surrounded by greedy gulls and voracious ice foxes. The last- 
mentioned animals are degenerate relatives of Master Reynard, 
and live in the polar regions of the Old and New Worlds. The 
ice fox is much smaller than our well-known barnyard robber, 
and in summer wears an earth- or stone-colored coat, while in 
winter he resembles very closely the color of the snow amidst 
which he lives. The ice fox eats any animal that he can seize, 
and does not disdain even carrion. Since the sea throws up 
many varieties of dead creatures, these voracious little beasts 
are seldom in want of food. Nevertheless, they often fight over 
their prey, when the victors shriek like angry cats. The ice fox 
intrudes into human dwellings with amazing boldness, and 
Arctic explorers are often put to their wits to protect them- 
selves against their greedy guests, which sometimes gnaw the 
reindeer blankets underneath the sleeping travellers at night. 



28o ANIMALS IN ACTION. 



Elk in Battle with Wolves. 

SEVERAL noble species of animals have nearly vanished 
from the Old World since its primeval forests were first 
invaded by man, and among these are the visent, aurochs, 
elk, and bear. Only the protection of government is responsi- 
ble for the preservation of the elk, a herd of which is to be 
found in the forest of Menel, and the Swedish mountains under 
the watch of wardens, and the few auroxen in the preserves of 
Birlawitz and the Caucasus. 

Is extermination the fate decreed to the giant animals of the 
v^orld ? It certainly appears as if a rigid law of nature con- 
demned these great creatures to death or subjection, while the 
small pests live and multiply everywhere. The first advantage 
which the small animals have over the great is in their relative 
numbers. . The greater the animal the greater the amount of 
food it needs for its sustenance, and the number becomes smaller 
that can find food only on a circumscribed or limited territory. 
Many results follow from this equation. The smaller the num- 
ber of a certain animal, the easier it is to exterminate that 
animal. Then again, degeneration of the species follows upon 
inbreeding, and in the long run the survival of the fittest through 
natural selection becomes ever narrower and less productive. 
On the other hand, the greater the size of an animal the longer 
is the period that it requires to reach its full size, and the smaller 
the likelihood that it will ever attain that size. The greater an 




Wolves attacking Elk 



DINGO AND DUCKBILL. 283 

animal is the smaller is the number of offspring that it can bring 
forth at a time, and the smaller the number of times that it can 
bring forth young during a lifetime. Great animals also are 
more at the mercy of powerful enemies, because they find it 
much more difficult to conceal themselves than do the smaller 
creatures. Finally, the greater animals are always more valu- 
able prey for man and beast than the smaller ones. A giant of 
the animal creation cannot utilize its full strength against an 
aggregation of small animals ; and especially against an opponent 
who has the endowment of intellect the great beast is virtually 
without defence. Is it a suggestive fact that as Zeus (so we 
read in mythology) struck down the Titans with his thunder- 
bolt, so weak and puny man has stamped out the Titans of the 
forests with the fire-tube ? It is probably the struggle against 
ferocious beasts of great size that first engaged the wits and 
strength of mankind. Everywhere, and among all people, there 
were formerly giants among the animals ; and it was the struggle 
against these monsters that first brought man to a realization 
that he is lord of the earth. 



Dingo and Duckbill. 

THE dingo is as large as a big shepherd dog, and in some 
ways resembles the fox. The color of the animal is a 
reddish brown, and it has a pointed head with upright 
ears, and a hanging, bushy tail. Its habits are like those of the 
fox. The fellows in our picture seem to have scented prey. They 
crouch close to the ground and stalk through the tall grass 
until they reach the bank of the stream. Their pointed heads 
are stretched forward, and their little sharp eyes peer intently 
into the water. The object of their attention is easily to be 



284 ANIMALS IN ACTION. 

seen. A short distance away two duckbills are tumbling and 
splashing in the stream. One of the dingoes springs quickly 
into the shallows. The duckbill is a male, as can be seen by 
the spurs on his feet. He belongs to the lowest order of mam- 
mals. His scientific name is given as OrnithorhynchiLS para- 
doxus. The fact that the animal possesses milk glands and a 
furry pelt of short, thick down mingled with hairs places it with 
the mammals, for the creature in other respects can be taken 
readily for either a reptile or a bird. In common with the last- 
mentioned order of animals, the duckbill has something that 
looks very much like a beak, similar to that of the duck. These 
animals live in the water like the otters, but do not, like them, 
feed on fish, but thrust their bills deep into the mud for smaller 
creatures. They build a very strange dwelling of rushes, and 
their burrows, which open into the stream, extend obliquely 
toward the surface of the bank. At the end of the passage, 
about three feet above the surface of the water, lies the nest, 
a round hole lined with soft leaves and water plants. The duck- 
bill does not bring its offspring into the world alive, but lays 
a number of soft-shelled eggs which are hatched in a short 
time. The mother nurses her young just like a cat or a fox. 
The flesh of the animal is very succulent and is considered a 
great delicacy. 




Dingos hunting Duckbills. 



THE IBEX. 287 



The Ibex. 

ALTHOUGH laws have recently been passed to protect the 
chamois, another not less beautiful creature that dwells on 
the lofty mountains is being exterminated. This stately 
ruminant is about five feet in length, and over two feet tall at the 
withers ; it is known to science as Capra ibex, and weighs over two 
hundred pounds. Many years ago this animal was very numerous 
all over the Alps, and was often captured alive and taken to the 
Coliseum at Rome, to take part in the contests between wild 
beasts. Many a Roman audience was moved to admiration by 
the appearance of a noble ram with his thick and stately horns. 
Indeed, the ibex is the noblest game of the mountains and 
the most difficult to capture. Many stories have survived even 
to this day of the mysterious powers that were ascribed to this 
king of the mountains in the remote ages of European civiliza- 
tion. The ibex lives in small bands or families in the most inac- 
cessible parts of the Alpine ranges, and does not propagate 
rapidly. The creatures are very timid, far-sighted, and extremely 
difficult of approach. Their flesh, their hide, and their horns 
are good prizes for the hunter even in modern times ; but a few 
centuries ago the horns and blood were valued highly as a power- 
ful remedy. The ibex is remarkable for the swiftness of its 
flight, for the extent and sureness of its jump, and for a certain 
desperate courage which challenges the admiration of the hunts- 
man. Since the introduction of firearms the number of ibex 



288 ANIMALS IN ACTION. 

has diminished steadily, and for nearly a century past they 
have been extinct in certain portions of the Alps. During the 
past score of years a colony of these animals has lived under the 
protection of the king of Italy in the range of the Mont Rosa, 
where the late King Victor Emmanuel was in the habit of hunting 
from time to time. For a few years past the emperor of Austria 
and king of Hungary and other royal sportsmen have cultivated 
the ibex in their private game preserves, and have succeeded in 
maintaining a stock of them. The ibex occasionally mates with 
the domestic goat, and the offspring retains many of the features 
of the ibex ; but the unadulterated breed is found only in the 
almost inaccessible regions of the Piedmontese Alps and also 
in the Val d'Aosta, where the most extraordinary difficulties 
confront the hunter, so that the species is permitted to propa- 
gate at a slow rate. It will be a pity if so beautiful a creature 
is allowed to disappear from the animal world. 



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The Ibex. 



THE NARWHAL. 291 



The Narwhal. 

THE narwhal {Monadon moiioceros, as his Latin, scientific 
name runs), a member of the great family of sea mam- 
mals, is so strangely shaped a fellow that it is no wonder 
the ancients told all manner of fantastic tales about him. The 
long battering-ram upon his cylinder-shaped, rounded head, with 
the eyes on either side, almost upon the snout, has given color 
for the most absurd stories, which have been disposed of only 
by the exact knowledge of to-day. 

The average length of the narwhal is from thirteen to six- 
teen feet, but some haye been found as long as twenty feet. 
The breast fins of the narwhal are very small, but the great 
fin-tail spreads out in two flaps. The soft, velvety hide is shaded 
according to age and species, but for the most part is white 
or yellowish white flecked with irregular, dark brown spots. 
The narwhals are exceptionally sociable and peace-loving. 
They travel in great herds about the Arctic waters, where the 
roughness of the weather sometimes destroys them in large num- 
bers, and they perish by thousands among the mighty ice-floes 
which cut off their supply of air. At other times animate foes 
make the life of the narwhal miserable. Greedy, wormlike 
parasites find a lodgement in his bowels and in the cavities 
behind his palate, and render painful every mouthful that the 
animal swallows. The fierce grampus (also a mammal) is not 
in the least appalled by the formidable weapon of the narwhal, 



292 ANIMALS IN ACTION. 

and if he happens upon a school of these mammals, rushes mer- 
cilessly among them and wages a war of extermination. Such 
an occurrence is shown in the picture here given. The nar- 
whal thinks only of flight, because he realizes the superiority of his 
adversary ; but he is often overtaken and falls a prey to his 
pursuer. The grampus is the most beautiful of all the dolphin 
tribe, and his graceful and dexterous swimming movements are 
as silent and as swift as the flight of a swallow ; but he is, at 
the same time, the boldest, the hungriest, and the most rapa- 
cious of his kind, and waylays whales with the greatest 
eagerness. Even man is among the enemies of the narwhal. 
White men hunt him for his ram, while the little Esquimaux 
eat his flesh, cooked and dried, and his hide and blubber raw. 
These yellow, slant-eyed Arctic folk burn the oil of the nar- 
whal's body in their lamps ; they make thread of his sinews 
and fishing bait of his gullet. 

In former times vast sums were paid for the narwhal's horn, 
which was thought to be that of the: Scriptural unicorn, but 
nowadays it may be bought in large quantities in the seaport 
towns at a moderate price. 




Narwhals pursued by Grampus (Swordfish). 



BUFFALO ATTACKED BY LIONS. 295 



Buffalo attacked by Lions. 

THE Cape or Caffir buffalo is the mightiest and wildest 
animal of his kind in the whole of Middle and South 
Africa. His true character as a fighter is plainly indi- 
cated by his formidable horns. During the hot dayhght hours 
the bulky beast lies motionless, preferably in some puddle. 
Late in the day he leaves his resting-place to graze until morn- 
ing. At intervals he stops feeding, and looks about him, grunt- 
ing and showing other manifestations of ill temper. The buffalo 
carries his broad, massive head always half lowered, as if for im- 
mediate attack. Beneath his powerful horns a pair of great blue- 
black eyes gleam so wildly that the animal always conveys the 
impression of unbridled savagery, reckless fury, and consummate 
craft. , And indeed the buffalo is an extremely dangerous beast. 
He plunges his horns into his victim, tosses it aloft, and when it 
has fallen to the ground he stamps upon it, and tears it to pieces 
with horns and hoofs. Even the lion, much as he is feared as 
the king of beasts, does not dare to attack a buffalo alone ; 
though two or three lions will often undertake the task. Oswell, 
the companion of Livingston, was once following, with a comrade, 
a wounded buffalo. They were on horseback ; suddenly three 
lions appeared, bore the great buffalo to the ground, and fought 
with him fiercely. The lions did not abandon their victim even 
when the two hunters had ridden near enough to level their rifles 
at them and wounded two, but mangled it and tore away all 



296 ANIMALS IN ACTION. 

the more sava^^ely. Only when two of them had been killed, 
did the third lion make up his mind to run away. 

Our picture portrays a desperate battle between a buffalo 
and a pair of lions, in which the latter have already been vic- 
torious, and are about to devour their prey. 



John Dory and the Octopus. 

AN old tradition has it that John Dory is a herring-king, 
with a head of iridescent gold and with reddish sides, 
which leads and directs the herring-school. This fish, 
however, does not belong to the herrings, and the confusion has 
arisen because it follows, in company of forty or fifty, the wan- 
dering schools of herring and sardines which are its food. It is 
a beautiful fish. The ground color is olive-gray or grayish yel- 
low, with a swiftly changing sheen from blue to gold and silver. 
In the Mediterranean it is often of a pure gold color. Charac- 
teristic is the deep black eyelike speck encircled with white, 
on both sides of the body. According to legend, these marks 
were made by the fingers of the apostle Peter when he drew the 
fish from the water and took from its mouth the tribute money 
mentioned in Scripture. The creature, indeed, is sometimes 
called Peter's fish. It lives properly in the Mediterranean, but 
ranges as far as British waters. In spite of its somewhat un- 
gainly figure, it swims swiftly. The flesh is highly prized as an 
article of food. The picture shows a John Dory attacking an 
octopus, an animal belonging to the family of the head-feelers. 
The lengthy body of the octopus is loosely enveloped in a stout 
skin, its mantle, while the head protrudes free. The head is 
separated from the trunk ; on the side are two great eyes, and 




OS 

o 

OS 



John Dory hunting Octopus. 



JOHN DORY AND THE OCTOPUS. 301 

in the mouth two sharp, curled jaws, not unhke a parrot's beak. 
About the mouth are ten arms. Eight of these are compara- 
tively short, and provided with sucking mouths through their 
entire length. The other two are remarkably long, exceeding 
the length of the body. On the ends of these are smooth sur- 
faces, also furnished with mouths. After unrolling these arms, 
the animal seizes its prey with them and thus conveys it to the 
mouth. The finlike skin extending around the trunk serves as 
a means of swimming, and the little arms underneath are used 
as rudders. The fish has a pear-shaped gland which secretes 
a black fluid, highly prized as India ink. The color of the beast 
is reddish with white spots, and edged with violet. When 
excited it turns a dark chestnut-brown with a coppery glint. 
The flesh is palatable, and is much eaten in Italy. The fish is 
found from the Mediterranean to the North Sea. It reproduces 
itself by means of eggs which are laid in the weed and sea 
grass. With its arms outstretched the octopus is from a foot to 
two feet in diameter. Many, however, grow to an enormous 
size. One similar to the specimen shown in our picture was 
captured in the narrows of Belle Isle. The body without arms 
was sixteen feet across, while the arms measured over thirty- 
three feet. 



302 ANIMALS IN ACTION. 



A Family of Chimpanzees. 

THE chimpanzee (or Simla troglodytes) in all probability 
was known to the writers of a few centuries past as the 
'' Inseigo," or '' Unschiego," a name which this extraor- 
dinary and interesting animal still bears in its home in Cen- 
tral Africa. The chimpanzee is native to upper and lower 
Guinea, and the country back of it, ranging from Sierra Leone 
to the Congo. He is considerably smaller than the gorilla ; the 
full-grown male sometimes reaches a height of forty-two inches, 
and the female is twelve inches smaller than that. The skull 
of the chimpanzee is somewhat flattened; its upper Hp is long 
and wrinkled, and the general appearance of its face is sug- 
gestive of good nature. In its natural state, and when free 
from intrusion, the chimpanzee often assumes an upright posi- 
tion, but at the first indication of danger it drops on all fours 
and runs for dear life. The chimpanzees build curious hutlike 
nests in the trees, using branches as building material. Won- 
ders of domestication have been accompUshed with chimpanzees 
that have been captured young ; but, for sorhe inexplicable 
reason, the animals often sicken and die when they have been 
deprived of their freedom. 

Our picture presents a family of chimpanzees in their Afri- 
can home. The father has half suspended himself from a bough, 
and is drinking of the limpid stream below with an unmistak- 
able look of satisfaction, while the female, with the baby in her 




A Chimpanzee Family. 



FIGHTING KANGx\ROOS. 305 

lap, so to speak, is peering carefully into the thicket, shading 
her eyes from the sun much as a human being would do, on 
the lookout for the appearance of an enemy. 



Fighting Kangaroos. 

THE kangaroo is one of the most inoffensive among ani- 
mals, and yet even this gentle creature occasionally finds 
it necessary or convenient to declare hostilities against 
one of its kind. Our picture shows two males of the Australian 
species, known as the giant kangaroo, engaged in a desperate 
trial of strength and endurance. The sight is an extremely 
impressive one. The fighters stand nearly six feet from the 
ground when in an upright position. One of the combatants 
has evidently been too attentive to one of the two females in 
the immediate background to the right of the battle scene. The 
meddlesome animal has been attacked vigorously, and the picture 
shows him on the point of being overpowered. Neither of the 
combatants can accomphsh much with his fore paws, but the 
powerful hind legs of the kangaroo can inflict grievous bruises 
and scratches upon the body of its foe. Thus the battle is 
pressed fiercely, and the fur is torn out in patches from the pelt, 
first of one animal and then of the other. The rest of the kan- 
garoos within sight of the struggle show no inclination to com- 
pHcate matters by offering to interfere in the combat. On the 
contrary, they appear to regard the conflict as a legitimate and 
just one, and are bound to observe the laws of neutrality as 
they are interpreted by the proper authorities in Kangaroo-land. 



3o6 ANIMALS IN ACTION. 



A Whale attacked by Grampi. 

THE Greenland whale {Balcena mysticetus) may well be 
regarded as one of the largest animals known to mankind. 
It is recorded that in 1813, a monster specimen of this 
mammal was captured near Spitzbergen, which was sixty-eight 
feet long. More often, however, the creature is from forty to 
fifty feet long, and impresses the observer as being exceedingly 
awkward, with its large head, split open almost to the throat by 
a huge toothless mouth, its small eyes, set well back into the 
body, which ends in an enormous tail, so powerful that with one 
sweeping blow it can smash the most compactly built whale- 
boat. It has been hunted industriously for its oil and baleen, 
or whalebone, until its numbers have diminished very percepti- 
bly. Among its most destructive foes, the Greenland whale 
counts the grampus {Oi^a gladiatoi-), nicknamed by whalers the 
"Wolf of the Sea." The grampus is a distant cousin of his 
chief victim, and measures from twelve to fifteen feet in length. 
He is a voracious creature, bold to a degree, and with a mani- 
fest liking for a fight. Very often a small school of grampi, 
numbering five or six specimens, attack a Greenland whale, 
plunging their teeth into its fins, its sides, its lips, and con- 
tinue their assaults upon the giant with tireless energy. The 
mighty leviathan of the deep churns the ocean into a foam for 
many rods around, as he plunges back and forth in desperate 
attempts to shake off his tormentors. Our impressive illustra- 







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Fighting Kangaroo. 



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Whale attacked by Swordfish. 



A Bx\TTLE BETWEEN DEER. 311 

tion shows such a battle in progress. The whale has succeeded 
in tossing one of his fierce assailants into the air, much as a stag 
tosses a dog. Two other grampi, however, are clinging to his 
lips, and two more have buried their teeth deep into one of 
his fins. The enormous strength of the leviathan does not 
avail him much against the determined wolves of the sea, who 
will probably soon have the huge carcass of their victim at 
their full disposal. 



A Battle between Deer. 

A MELANCHOLY picture from the rich sketch-book of 
nature is shown in this illustration. Two stags of the 
European forests have been overcome by a terrible 
death, while in the midst of the clash and shock of a struggle 
for life. At the opening of the mating season the stags, in the 
full splendor of their newly grown antlers, like kings of the 
forest with newly burnished crowns, are in the habit of engag- 
ing in deadly duel for the undisputed possession of the females 
of the herd. The two magnificent specimens shown in the 
picture have been fighting desperately on the summit of a 
mighty cliff, each combatant trying to hurl the other upon the 
cruel rocks below. They have succeeded beyond their expecta- 
tions ; for both have plunged into the abyss, and are now 
lying upon their rocky deathbed, one already dead, and the 
other in his death throes, bleating piteously to the startled herd 
above. 



312 ANLMALS IN ACTION. 



Wapiti Deer on a Rocky Mountain Range. 

THE wapiti (or Cerviis canadensis) is a noble American 
representative of the deer family, and is sometimes 
erroneously called the American elk or gray moose. 
The Cree Indians call the animal the wawaskeesh. This mag- 
nificent creature is larger than the European stag. The antlers 
of the two animals are very much alike, but those of the wapiti 
are heavier. The general color of the wapiti is a light chestnut- 
red in summer. In the winter its coat is dense and soft, and 
its hues are grayer than those of its summer covering. Two 
centuries ago the wapiti was quite generally met with in the 
mountainous or hilly regions of North America, but the advance 
of civilization has caused it to retreat westward, until it has 
disappeared completely from all sections east of the Rocky 
Mountains, with the exception of Montana and the Dakotas. 
It is by no means rare in northern Cahfornia, Oregon, and 
Washington, but it is much more numerous in Canada, where 
it frequents low, well-wooded tracts in the vicinity of swampy 
lands. The habits of the wapiti are similar to those of the 
stag, and the males of the herd battle fiercely for the possession 
of the females at the opening of the mating season. At these 
times the male utters a peculiar sound, resembling somewhat 




The Monarchs of the Glens. 



WAPITI DEER ON A ROCKY MOUNTAIN RANGE. 317 

the braying of an ass, beginning with a loud, shrill note and 
ending in a guttural sob. In May or June the female gives 
birth to a fawn, — sometimes, in rare cases, to two. In the ranges 
of the Rocky Mountains, where the wapitis are comparatively 
unmolested, these noble deer wander about in large herds. 
Such a herd is pictured in our illustration. Amidst the virgin 
solitudes, covered with an unbroken mantle of snow, the wapiti 
range at their leisure, picking out the scant vegetation beneath 
the snow. 



ANIMALS IN ACTION. 



A Duel in an Indian Jungle. 

THE Indian buffalo is an ancestor and distant cousin of 
the huge, lumbering black animals, with horns curling 
down low upon the back, which the traveller meets 
through the valley of the Danube, in Italy, along the waterways 
of Egypt, and in India. The Indian buffalo is a ferocious and 
powerful animal, and reaches an average length of nine feet 
and six inches. He shares with the elephant the honor of being 
the most destructive enemy of the tigers that infest the dark 
jungles of India. The buffalo presses the war against the tiger 
in the wetter regions from the foot of the Himalayas, through 
Bengal and the eastern portions of Central India, southward to 
the neighborhood of the Godovari, and eastward through Assan 
and Burmah as far as southern Siam. Like his European rela- 
tive, the Indian buffalo (yBos or Bubalos ami) is almost an 
amphibious animal. For hours at a stretch the slow-moving, 
awkward beast conceals himself from the rays of the sun, and 
from fly-pests, by sinking his body in some stream or lake, and 
lying there motionless, with only the tip oL his nostrils and a 
part of his horns visible above the surface of the water. Some- 
times, while the buffalo is issuing from his nap in the water, 
the tiger takes advantage of the occasion to spring upon the 
unsuspecting animal from a clump of underbrush, and then 
follows a battle in which the buffalo, by virtue of his superior 




Indian Buffalo attacked by Tiger. 



WANDERING REINDEER. 321 

strength, is very often the victor. In our picture the tiger 
has evidently the advantage over his enemy, but the tables 
may yet be turned by the appearance of other buffaloes upon 
the scene of conflict. 



Wandering Reindeer. 

ALL over the sub-Arctic regions of the earth, where the 
struggle between man and the elements is most severe, 
Nature has provided an almost universal means of suste- 
nance for her human children. To the Laplander, the Kirghiz, 
and other Mongolian races in the extreme north of Europe and 
Asia, the reindeer is as indispensable as are the wheat field, the 
stock farm, and the coal mine to the inhabitants of lower lati- 
tudes. It may be said, in truth, that this hardy animal meets all 
the demands of man for food, for clothing, for transportation, 
and for a variety of other supplies. Both sexes of the reindeer 
(or Rangifer) have antlers. The shape of the animals is rather 
ungainly, the head being cumbrous, the legs short in proportion, 
and the tail little more than rudimentary. The larger speci- 
mens reach a length of six feet, and the average height of the 
animal at the withers is about three feet and a half. Tribes 
of Laplanders and Finlanders wander throughout the half-frozen 
north with their vast flocks of reindeer in search of the scant 
growth of moss. This supply of fodder, stored by Nature 
under its covering of snow, the reindeer uncover by digging 
and scooping with their hoofs and muzzles. Nothing in the 
scenery of the far north impresses the traveller more than one 
of these great flocks, under a darkening, leaden sky, silently 
digging and scraping for their food, while in the background the 
smoke from the Laplanders' tents rises slowly skyward to mingle 



322 ANIMALS IN ACTION. 

with the perpetual murkiness above. Some naturalists are dis- 
posed to regard the American reindeer (the caribou) as a distinct 
species of the reindeer. The caribou, however, is larger than 
the European reindeer, has smaller antlers, and is darker in 
color Our picture shows the advance-guard of a herd of lui- 
ropean reindeer crossing one of the bleak stretches of coun- 
try which is characteristic of their northern home. 






i: 




r- 



Wandering Reindeer. 



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DOGS PURSUING A WILD BOAR. 327 



Dogs pursuing a Wild Boar. 

THE wild boar of Europe, which figures so prominently in 
the annals of the chase, is an own cousin of our familiar 
friend, the farmyard hog ; but the boar is a much 
larger, stronger, and altogether more dignified and respectable 
animal than his domesticated cousin. The wild boar has many 
of the characteristics of the domestic hog. Like the latter, 
he is a voracious animal of destructive habits. When a field 
has been visited by a wild boar in search of food, the crops 
have been uprooted or trodden into the ground, and the entire 
neighborhood of his boarship's line of march looks as if a 
cyclone had torn through it, leaving general destruction in its 
path. The wild boar is hunted eagerly throughout Central 
Europe, and his prowess is such as to entitle him to the respect 
of the huntsman. In the realistic picture here given, the pack 
of fierce bloodhounds, after a desperate chase of many hours 
over plain and hill, has at last surrounded its prey, and the 
death struggle has begun. The hunted animal, his eyes glow- 
ing with anger, has just knocked' down one of his pursuers with 
a blow from his formidable tusks. But other members of the 
pack have buried their teeth deep in his neck, and the indica- 
tions are that he will be overpowered before the eager huntsmen 
come upon the scene. 



ANIMALS IN ACTION. 



Tayras pouncing upon a Pampas Deer. 

THE tayra {Galictis barbara) is a prominent member of 
the marten family, and the forests of Brazil are its chief 
habitation, although it is to be found in sufficiently 
large numbers in other portions of South America. It has the 
long, slender body distinctive of the family to which it belongs, 
and is an indefatigable hunter, ranging the trees in search of 
small animals, upon which it pounces swiftly, and chokes them 
to death, almost as soon as it has seized them. In this manner 
it destroys large numbers of hares and other rodents, and is 
not afraid to attack even larger prey. Throughout the pampas 
or jungles of South America there wanders the beautiful and 
inoffensive pampas deer, which is plentiful in Paraguay, Uru- 
guay, Brazil, and some parts of the Argentine Republic. The 
body of this charming creature is about fifty inches long, its 
Hmbs are slender, its eyes large and mournful. All through 
the heat of the day, the little deer lies curled up in its bed 
amidst the shades of the lush grass, but at sundown it ventures 
from its sleeping quarters aiid wanders to the streams and 
springs to drink its fill and to crop the sweet grasses. The 
wily tayra watches its chance to spring upon the harmless 
creature and to tear it to pieces for its evening meal. Such 
a painful episode of the hfe of the pampas is shown in our 
picture. The poor deer has already given up the struggle, 
because it is pinned down too securely to hope for escape. 




Tairas pouncing on a Pampas Deer. 



AN ELK AT BAY. 331. 

An Elk at Bay. 

THE elks (or Alces) are the giants of the deer family, and 
like all the other giants, from Anak down to modern 
times, are fast vanishing from the face of the earth. 
The family now has but one representative in existence. 
Scientists have not yet agreed to regard the American moose 
as a distinct species of elk. The elk is, indeed, a formidable 
beast. The adult animal ranges from nine to ten feet in length, 
and the larger specimens reach a weight of a thousand pounds. 
A few small herds of the European elk are to be found in the 
private preserves of German noblemen, where they are kept 
under the strictest protection. In its natural state, the elk is to 
be met with, rarely, in the Baltic provinces, in parts of Sweden 
and Norway, and a few regions of Russia. The physical char- 
acteristics of the elk are well calculated to give him an appear- 
ance of ferocity, for he is a huge, clumsy, long-legged animal, with 
spadelike antlers, a large ugly head, and small, vicious-looking 
eyes. The ears of the elk are long and broad, and his tail is 
so short as to be almost lacking. During the mating season 
the animals roam in small herds, through the wildest and lone- 
liest forests, preferably in moist, swampy places, and crop the 
water grasses and young leaves. When the time of calving 
approaches, the males abandon their mates, and herd by them- 
selves until the following season. Our picture presents a 
characteristic and pathetic scene. An American moose, pur- 
sued through his native swamps by the eager hunters and 
their no less eager dogs, has kept up a steady, rattling trot 
for hours. At last, exhausted by pursuit, and bewildered by 
the din of his enemies, he has halted and is about to give battle 
to the dogs. A bullet from the hunter's rifle, however, will put 
an end to the unequal contest. 



332 ANIMALS IN ACTION. 



Kite, or Glede, and Saker. 

THROUGHOUT nature animals are beset by enemies. 
Sometimes two marauders come into conflict. This pic- 
ture shows a red kite, sometimes called a glede, which 
has found the nest of a saker on an island in the Danube. The 
foundation of this bird-house is of twigs and branches, and the 
interior is lined with shrubbery, foliage, and leaves. The glede 
is pleased with it. When garnished with some rags and bits of 
paper, it will make a nice abode for his own young. So he takes 
possession, and hurries away for the missing materials ; but food 
must first be found for hungry stomachs. We see him sweeping 
on high. Suddenly he plunges downward upon a hurrying 
mouse, a frog, a small bird, or a fish. The great bird, two feet 
long and over four from tip to tip of his outstretched wings, 
looks splendid in his airy flight. Then a second bird of prey 
appears. The newcomer is somewhat smaller than the red 
kite, being only eighteen inches long and a little over forty 
with outstretched wings. This is the saker, the possessor of 
the confiscated nest. He is the most formidable enemy of all 
birds, from the big wild goose to the tiny finch. The saker 
flits about like a shadow, and his powerful claws clasp the shud- 
dering prey like a vise of iron. The kite pursues with a loud 
scream. In vain does the saker seek to escape. The piercing 
cry comes nearer. Finally he drops his booty and hurries 
away, while the kite devours his stolen prize at his leisure. But 




Elk-shooting in tlie North. 




Kite fighting with a Saker for the Possession of Nest. 



MONITOR AND EGYPTIAN GOOSE. 337 

the two robbers are to meet once more. After the hunt the 
saker seeks his nest, and finds the kite busy upholstering it for 
his own use. The saker's anger is aroused, and he flings him- 
self upon the intruder. But the kite, although a coward, refuses 
to give up the place. With powerful blows of their beaks they 
try to wound and stun each other. How will the battle end ? 
This time the right triumphs, for the saker is stronger and more 
agile than the kite. 



Monitor and Egyptian Goose. 

THE monitor is very much hke our native hzard, but is 
more aggressive and courageous. The German name of 
this animal arises from an error. The creature is called 
varan in Egypt, and hence the scientific term monitor, or the 
"varan of the Nile." The ancient Egyptians thought the varan 
devoured crocodiles' eggs and swallowed the young. This ac- 
tually occurs sometimes. The monitor is over five feet long, 
yellowish green with black spots, yellow dots and greenish yel- 
low points. The compressed tail has a quill composed of a 
double row of scales, black part of the way, and shading into 
yellow toward the end. The monitor Hves near the water, is 
very swift, and easily catches small animals. He eats frogs, 
snakes, smaller lizards, birds as large as a dove, and four-footed 
beasts as large as a rat. He does not disdain insects and 
worms, and birds' eggs are not safe from his marauding. Our 
picture shows a monitor surprised while robbing the nest of 
an Egyptian goose. The goose attacks the intruder valiantly, 
and tries to drive him off with blows of wings and beak. Yet 
the monitor stands his ground. The small, gleaming eyes 



338 ANIMALS IN ACTION. 

watch every movement of the goose. Hissing and foaming, 
he holds out his open mouth with its numerous sharp teeth, 
and a long forked tongue darting out between them. Suddenly 
he springs upon the goose, and the latter withdraws in fright. 
The monitor's attacks become bolder and bolder, until the 
goose is in full flight. Then the lizard approaches the nest, 
licks up an egg with his sinuous tongue, seizes it in his jaws, 
lifts his head, breaks it, and sucks out the contents with satis- 
faction. One Qgg follows another, until the nest is empty. 



Tree Panther and Tree Snake. 

THE picture shows an incident of animal life in Sumatra. 
A pair of birds have built their nest in the fork of a 
great tree on the edge of the forest. The male hunts 
for food while the female broods. Soon the young are hatched 
out, and the old birds fly about in search of supplies. While 
they are absent a tree snake winds swiftly up the tree. It is 
what is known as a shokari, a beautiful creature nearly three 
feet long, a glittering bronze-brown on the back, with yellow 
stripes and black and yellow bands on the sides. The tree 
snake has seen the nest, and quickly glides up to it with gleam- 
ing eyes. One little bird after another disappears into the 
gaping mouth of the monster. Then he rolls himself up in the 
soft nest to take his midday rest. Soon a catlike beast of prey, 
almost as big as a leopard, appears. It is the gray panther, who 
spends most of his time in the trees, robs nests, and pursues his 
prey from bough to bough. He has reached the branch where 
the nest is, when the male bird returns. The father screams, and 
the mother replies with cries of distress. But the panther 





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Nile Varan surprised by an Egyptian Goose. 










Panther surprised by a Tree Snake. 



TREE PANTHER AND TREE SNAKE. 343 

knows that he has a choice prize in the nest, and continues to 
advance. The snake, however, is awakened by the outcry, and 
as the panther raises his head to look over the nest, the original 
thief rushes upon him with an angry hissing sound. In affright 
the panther draws back and begins to retreat slowly. The birds 
of the neighborhood have been aroused by the grief of the 
parents, and come from all sides. They see the snake, their 
hated enemy, and swarm about it with loud shrieking. The 
reptile awaits them with uplifted head. Not a movement 
escapes it. When a daring bird comes too near, the snake 
darts forward with the swiftness of lightning. The bird is 
caught and pays for his temerity with his life. The snake then 
retires again to the soft nest and resumes his interrupted noon- 
day nap. 



344 ANIMALS IN ACTION. 



The Leopard meets his Match. 

A CURIOUS battle is presented in this picture. A mother 
hippopotamus, half drowsy in the drone of the noonday 
heat, has been wallowing in the tepid stream near the 
bank of the upper Nile. Her offspring, a charming little fellow 
who is an exact miniature of his cumbrous and indolent mother, 
has strayed a short distance away from her, quite unaware of 
the danger that lies lurking behind the stump of a fallen tree. 
Suddenly, something terrible happens. A hungry leopard (the 
Felis pardus^ has sprung upon the little fellow, determined to 
have its comparatively tender flesh served for luncheon. The 
robber has counted without his host, however, for the mother, 
aroused by the commotion, has plunged quickly to the scene of 
action, and has closed her great jaws upon the body of the 
leopard before the latter has become aware of her presence. 
The battle will be exceedingly short. The leopard will be 
ground to a shapeless pulp in that enormous mouth, and the 
little one will limp away into the stream with its mother, per- 
haps bruised for life by nails and jaws of the leopard, and at all 
events a sadder and more cautious little hippo for the rest of 
its babyhood. 




Hippopotamus defending its Young against a Leopard. 



A BATTLE BETWEEN GIANTS. 347 



A Battle between Giants. 

THE powerful pachyderms (or "thick-hides") of the 
African animal world, such as the elephant, the rhinoce- 
ros, and the hippopotamus, feed entirely upon plants, 
and need for their maintenance great stretches of territory, over 
the sole possession of which they watch with unmistakable jeal- 
ousy. The hippopotamus generally has first choice of feeding 
grounds, and lives luxuriously on the water plants in the great 
rivers and lakes. His claims are seldom disputed by any of the 
other quadrupeds, for all the jungle folk avoid the mighty, lum- 
bering, and hot-tempered brute whenever they can. Hippo is 
not, therefore, a wandering animal, but maintains a permanent 
residence. The elephant and the rhinoceros, on the other hand, 
are often driven from one place to another by droughts and other 
causes. The elephants travel in herds of from five to fifteen 
head, and go on extended wanderings to seek out boggy, moist 
ground, or districts in the vicinity of running water which has 
kept the vegetation green and succulent. The rhinoceros moves 
about in a similar way, but this sulky, morose beast prefers to live 
as a hermit after the pairing time is over. When two such giants 
as the rhinoceros and the African elephant happen to meet in 
the course of their journeyings, k battle is apt to ensue. In such 
an encounter the rhinoceros is usually the aggressor, for the 
African variety of this animal is exceptionally bold and savage. 
The elephant, to be sure, is superior to the rhinoceros in size and 



348 ANIMALS IN ACTION. 

in strength ; but the rhinoceros is, in spite of his unwieldy, cylin- 
drical bulk, surprisingly quick in his movements, and has in this 
way some advantage over the elephant. The short body of the 
rhinoceros gives him another superiority over his adversary, be- 
cause he can rush beneath the elephant and plunge his horn into 
the belly of his enemy, whom, in this way, he often injures seri- 
ously. When, therefore, an elephant and a rhinoceros have met 
in conflict, the battle becomes a contest of dexterity and skill in 
giving and parrying thrusts. The animals circle about each 
other at a gallop, shaking the ground with their heavy tread, 
each one trying to get a hold upon the flank of the other. Some- 
times the elephant finally succeeds in making a good use of his 
long tusks (as shown in the desperate fight presented in our 
picture), and then the fate of the rhinoceros is sealed. As soon 
as the elephant has impaled his enemy he brings his thick fore 
legs to beai" upon him, presses him down to the ground with all 
his ponderous weight, then proceeds to crush his head, and gen- 
erally leaves the conquered beast upon the field a shapeless, 
trampled mass. 




A Battle between Giants. Rhinoceros fighting with Elephant. 



A BEAVER COLONY. 351 



A Beaver Colony. 

THE beaver is a marine architect in the true sense of the 
word. His life and habits are plainly suggested in the 
accompanying picture. Although a rodent like the 
mouse, the hare, the squirrel, and their cousins, he differs from 
them in size and in methods of living. Just as the squirrels have 
chosen the hollow of a tree, the rats and mice the earth for their 
dwellings, and the hares the fields and woods for their habita- 
tions, so the beaver selects the water as his especial home-quar- 
ters. Here he displays an astounding activity and a marvellous 
engineering skill. The beaver lives in large communities of his 
kind, and the wonderful dams with which he blocks the unruly 
streams are the result of the united and intelHgent labor of the 
entire settlement working with a common purpose toward a 
common end. Like the majority of rodents, he builds his house 
deep beneath the surface of the ground, but at no higher level 
than the surface of the water with which it is connected. His 
dwelling consists of an underground gallery thirty or forty feet 
in length, parallel with the stream ; it has a smooth floor bot- 
tom, and is lined with sticks and dried leaves. There are sev- 
eral of these galleries in a settlement, and they are each of 
them occupied by several couples who live together in peace. 
In order to keep the level of the water as nearly uniform as 
possible, the beavers build the dikes and dams. For this purpose 
they cut down trees with their teeth and gnaw them into sticks 



35^ 



ANIMALS IN ACTION. 



a yard or more in length. These are towed to a suitable place 
through the water and are moored in some inexplicable manner. 
The crevices between the logs are then filled with earth and 
stones, and the dam so constructed is strong enough to hold the 
water back. These structures are sometimes from six to ten feet 
in height and from twenty to twenty-five hundred feet long. 
The flow of the water itself contributes to the strength of the 
dam, as the wood and refuse floating down stream become firmly 
embedded in the retaining wall, and in course of time it becomes 
practically indestructible by any ordinary agency. The pool that 
gathers at the head of the dam forms a convenient playground 
for the animals. Here the beavers erect their so-called strong- 
holds, big rounded miounds about ten feet high, which are put 
together in the same manner as the dams, and are used as places 
of refuge when the water is high. The activities of the beavers 
often effect a change in the entire character of the locality in 
which they live. The dams turn little brooks into chains of 
ponds, in which the globe-shaped strongholds are conspicuous. 
The wood-covered banks of rivers are robbed of their timber, 
which gives place to clearings known to the trappers as "beaver 
meadows." These are often the only open spaces to be found 
in the virgin forests. 

The peaceful times in which the beaver could exercise his skill 
at his leisure and in security have gone by. Only now and 
then, in the primeval forests of North America, does the 
trapper come upon an entirely undisturbed beaver colony, and 
then his prize is a rich and rare one. Years ago, however, the 
beavers were to be found not only in North America, but 
swarmed in great numbers throughout Northern Europe and 
Asia. They disappeared quickly before the advance of man, 
who hunted them eagerly for their flesh and fur, and especially 
for their valuable castoreum, the early remedy for hysteria and 





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A Beaver Colony building Dams. 



A BEAVER COLONY. 355 

gout, which consisted of a secretion in the glands of the hind 
part of the animal, very bitter in taste and of a pungent odor. 
The beavers in Europe were also regarded as undesirable animals 
because they worked heavy damage to the forests. Only singly 
and at exceedingly rare intervals are beavers to be found in 
Europe now. 



356 ANIMALS IN ACTION, 



Quarrelsome Storks. 

THE common stork of 'Europe is one of the most intelli- 
gent of birds, and his dignified, thoughtful bearing, his 
.steadfast domestic relations, and his filial love are univer- 
sally known in the Old World. But he has other qualities which 
are not at all praiseworthy. It is believed, for instance, that the 
stork is a good-natured and harmless bird ; but he is really no such 
thing. His race, in order to propagate itself, legalizes murder, 
and his ferocious instincts turn him at times even against those of 
his own household. It is recorded that storks have overthrown 
the nests of another pair, despite the desperate resistance of the 
original owners, and, after killing the old birds, have thrust 
the brood out of their home and have appropriated the nest to 
their own use. Many storks do not allow another stork's nest 
within a certain distance of theii own. This prerogative they 
maintain with stubborn perseverance, and perish rather than 
allow it to be violated. But particularly when jealousy enters 
into the quarrel the stork knows no jesting. He falls into a 
furious temper, and attacks, not only his rival, but even the wife 
whose conduct has furnished grounds for suspicion. Our pic- 
ture illustrates an incident of this sort, which was observed in a 
town of Brunswick, in Germany. Many years ago a peaceful 
pair of storks who were nesting there suddenly broke out mto a 
fierce quarrel, because Master Stork thought that he had reason 
to suspect that his wife had favored the advances of another 
stork. The jealous husband finally pecked the faithless one out 
of the nest in which she had been hatching, and thenceforward 
lived a hermit, mourning the wreck of his domestic happiness. 





II 



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The Quarrelsome Storks. 



THE CAT AND THE DONKEY, OR A SAFE PORT. 359 



The Cat and the Donkey, or a Safe Port. 

THE donkey though so often the butt of the farmyard, 
alike in fact and in fable, is really the oldest and most 
helpful of domesticated animals. Asinus vulgaris, the 
domestic ass, is his scientific name, and he varies in size and 
strength according as he is carefully bred and reared. The ass 
did not get his name of donkey in England until about one 
hundred and fifty years ago ; but the reputation of the mis- 
judged and faithful beast for stupidity dates back to earliest 
times. 

And yet the ass or the donkey possesses qualities which, well 
trained, make it almost the equal of the horse ; neglect and ill 
treatment have made him stunted, stupid, and silly. Among 
the Arabians and the Persians the ass is highly developed ; 
while in this country the imported ass, brought from Southern 
Europe and carefully reared, is of exceptional strength and 
value. The little donkey, such as the picture shows, becomes 
under kind treatment a docile and affectionate farmyard pet ; 
but teased, maltreated, and put to the meanest tasks, he becomes 
stubborn, stupid, and often vicious, with hind legs ever ready 
to defend himself against tormentor or persecutor. Pussy, at 
least, finds him here a safe retreat from danger, and the baffled 
dogs are very cautious of the threatening and uplifted hoof. 



36o ANIMALS IN ACTION. 



Types of Dogs. 

I. Hanoverian bloodhound. 2. Short-haired German setter. 
3. Long-haired German pointer. 4. German setter. 5. Wire- 
haired German setter, or griffon. 6. Pointer. 7. English set- 
ter. 8. Short-haired dachsdog. 9. Long-haired dachsdog.. 
10. Smooth-haired fox terrier. 11. Wire-haired fox terrier. 
12. Deerhound. 13. Greyhound. 14. Barsot, or woolly-haired 
Russian greyhound. 15. Field spaniel. 16. Long-haired St. 
Bernard. 17. German dog. 18. Scotch collie. 19. Bulldog. 
20. Spitz dog. 21. Rough-haired German. 22. German shep- 
herd dog. 23. Bull terrier. 24. Airedale terrier. 



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Types of Dogs. 



91. 



